To expand their lifestyle offering, the major hotel groups have a well-established strategy: reach into their pockets. Hyatt recently demonstrated this with the acquisition of The Standard Hotelsand IHG with the acquisition of Ruby Hotels. Just as Accor was able to do previously with its whole galaxy of brands now integrated into the Ennismore entity, from Mama Shelter to 25 Hours, via Mondrian and The Hoxton. Following these examples, the Marriott group has just announced an increase in importancea group well known to business travellers: CitizenM.
A pioneer in the lifestyle hotel sector, this brand has been offering all the fundamentals of the contemporary hotel industry since 2008, including arty common spacesAll of this is complemented, depending on the occasion and the destination, by rooftops or swimming pools. All of this is complemented by rooftops or swimming pools, depending on the occasion and the destination.
" We are delighted to add this unique offering to our portfolio of select services brands as we continue to strengthen Marriott's position in this profitable market segment around the world." said Anthony Capuano, President and CEO of Marriott International. The citizenM portfolio currently includes 36 hotels in over 20 major citiess in Europe, with no fewer than five hotels in Paris and almost as many in London, but also in Asia, with hotels in Kuala Lumpur and Taipei, and increasingly in North America.
Over the last few years, CitizenM has been developing at a rapid pace in the United States, with a presence in Austin, Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Miami, New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington. At the end of 2023, Citizen M also set up in Menlo Park, Meta having chosen the Dutch channel from among some twenty competitors to manage the first hotel to be integrated directly into the campus of Facebook's parent company. This undoubtedly explains Marriott's interest in this name, which already appeals to American travellers, even though its relatively small rooms were not originally part of the canon of establishments on the other side of the Atlantic.
" In New York, where our first hotel opened, travellers are used to having rooms like ours. But we were worried about how this product would be appreciated in Boston or Washington? The proof is in the puddingsaid Robin Chadha, Chief Marketing Officer of CitizenM, in an interview with Voyages d'Affaires in 2021. All in all, it shows that a CitizenM hotel is much more than just a room. It's a lively lobby, a bar, art, art, welcoming staff, outdoor spacess ".
Once the deal is finally closed, for 355 million dollars, Marriott will become the owner of CitizenM, but the hotels will continue to be owned and operated by the Dutch group and integrated into the American group's system through long-term franchise agreements. A new brand to add to the existing Moxy's development dynamicMarriott's own lifestyle brand.
" We are very excited about our agreement with Marriott and look forward to working with them in the future. a crucial step for our future growthe" said Rattan Chadha, founder and chairman of citizenM. In addition to access to an unrivalled distribution network and the 220 million-plus members of the Marriott Bonvoy programme, this is also one of the reasons why a player of CitizenM's size and a world leader have joined forces: to give themselves the means to go even further.
Right now, three new CitizenMs are expected by mid-2026With a fifth hotel in London as part of the transformation of the historic Olympia exhibition centre, a first hotel in Dublin and a new establishment across the Atlantic, its third in Washington. " With the strength of Marriott's development engine, we look forward to many more citizenM properties in new destinations around the world." said Lennert de Jong, CEO of citizenM.
