Ever bigger, ever stronger. The major hotel groups continued to weave their web around the world in 2025. The first of them, Marriott, has consolidated its position as leader with growth of +4.3% in the number of rooms in 2025, adding more than 700 hotels to its offer. " A decisive year "for Marriott, according to its Chairman and CEO Anthony Capuano: " We have extended our iconic brands into new markets around the world, strengthened our portfolio in all segments and expanded our presence in new markets. ".
In this context, its mid-range offensive, launched in 2023 through the regional brands Four Points Flex by Sheraton in Europe and Asia and City Express by Marriott in South and North America, as well as the long-stay brand StudioRes in the United States, saw growth of +50% in this segment last year, with a total of 216 hotels opened and almost as many planned. While strengthening its leadership in luxury by 2025, particularly in the EMEA region, the American group has also extended its lifestyle guest offering with the acquisition of the citizenM brand and its thirty or so hotels.
While collections designed to attract independent hotels under the protective wing of the major hotel groups and their distribution force are one of the main vectors for development, alongside brands focused on the conversion of existing hotels, the American hotelier has also added a new brand to its portfolio in 2025, Series by Marriott. Focusing on the mid-scale and upscale segments, this new collection was launched in India, with a multi-unit agreement covering almost 40 establishments, before recently appearing in North America.
For its part, Hilton has done even better than Marriott, with almost 800 additional establishments in its portfolio, notably in Rwanda and Pakistan, where the group made its debut. This represents net annual growth of 6.7 %, enabling it to pass the 9,000 hotels worldwide mark last October. The year was also marked by the reopening of the prestigious Waldorf Astoria New York, and saw the American group follow the trend with the launch of new brands: the Outset Collection by Hilton in October, aimed at converting independent hotels, followed more recently by the Apartment Collection by Hilton, adding a range of furnished flats to the group's inventory.
At the same time, Hilton has launched the expansion of the NoMad lifestyle brand, which will be taken over in 2024 and is expected to open in Singapore in 2026, followed by Detroit. " We are continuing to strengthen our network effect and expand strategically to destinations around the world.said Chris Nassetta, President and CEO of Hilton. We are also adding new brands, with more to come in 2026, demonstrating our commitment to innovation and responding to changing customer demand. ".
Continued international expansion
While the Accor group is expecting growth of around 3.5% for 2025, the development dynamic is widespread, particularly among American groups. The United States on one side, the world on the other: Hyatt has made the big move by ending 2025 with the largest number of projects in the United States for five years, while consolidating its future presence in Asia-Pacific, particularly in the Greater China region.
Franchisor Choice Hotels, meanwhile, stepped up its international expansion, with record growth of +13%, for 130 new hotels in key markets such as South America, where the group is taking advantage of its franchise agreement to operate the Radisson brands on the American continent, as well as Australia, China and, of course, France, where it exceeded 100 hotels, thanks largely to the extended partnership with Zenitude for the integration of Quality Suites residences.
France is also one of its favourite playgrounds outside the United States, with more than 330 addresses, and Best Western has announced the addition of more than 200 hotels by 2025. In addition to North America, which remains the engine of its growth with 165 projects underway, the group will continue to expand its presence outside its original market in the coming years with more than 230 properties in its international pipeline. France and Italy in Europe, India, South Korea and Vietnam in Asia, Latin America and Saudi Arabia: all these countries will see the arrival of new establishments under one or other of the Group's brands.
And all these groups have record pipelines, with 148,000 rooms in the pipeline at Hyatt, 520,000 rooms and more than 3,700 hotels under development at Hilton, and almost 1,200 contracts signed by Marriott in 2025 alone, for a total of 610,000 rooms in the pipeline. This will no doubt maintain its position as the world's leading hotel group and its lead over Jin Jiang, the world's second-largest group, which had over 1.5 million rooms at the end of the third quarter, compared with 1.7 million for Marriott.
