Marriott International has remained firmly attached to its position as one of the world's leading hotel chains. the world's leading groupacquired since the takeover of Starwood in 2016. With one and a half million rooms at the end of last year, and still growing, the American hotelier is well ahead of Hilton and China's Jin Jiang, the other two groups with million rooms worldwide.
But is this top spot a foregone conclusion? That remains to be seen, given the growth of the Jin Jiang group, which is also the parent company of Radisson and Groupe du Louvre, but also of the rumours of a takeover of Wyndham by Choice Hotels. These two major franchisors Together they have almost 1.5 million rooms: 842,500 for Wyndham, the world's fifth-largest group, and 627,800 for Choice, the world's eighth-largest hotel group. Among other news for 2022, this group has launched the refreshment of all its brands in Europe while recovering the operation of the Radisson group brands on the American continent.
Such a merger could create a group close to the size of Marriott. But such a merger is still a long way off, and largely hypothetical. In the meantime, in 2022 Marriott continued its development dynamicparticularly in Asia-Pacific, where the Group's offering has exceeded the 1000 hotels last March. While its leadership in the luxury hotel sector has been strengthened by the opening of new Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott and W hotels, and while the Marriott and Sheraton brands remain blue chips, the American group's growth is mainly driven by its mid-range, limited-service brands.
In 2022, this segment accounted for almost half of all openings through the growth of the Courtyard, Four Points, AC Hotels and Moxy brands. This segment was further strengthened in May by the completion of the acquisition of Mexican group City Express, giving rise to the 31e Group brand, City Express by Marriott. With a presence in 75 Mexican cities and a total of 152 hotels, this new brand is set to expand more widely in Latin America and even elsewhere in the future.
A new budget brand, Spark by Hilton, to be launched in early 2023, the announcement of the H3 project In the mid-range long-stay segment, which is currently highly competitive in the United States, Hilton is strengthening its portfolio to support future growth. But this other American leader has also looked to the present by moving beyond the 7,000 hotel mark in the middle of last year, along with other major milestones. These include 600 hotels opened in Asia-Pacific, 500 in Europe and 200 in Latin America. This sustained expansion has been supported by well-established brands such as Conrad, DoubleTreeHilton Garden Inn and the Curio Collection, as well as the development of new brands such as Canopy and Motto in the lifestyle segment.
Ranked fourth worldwide, the IHG group is gradually approaching the one million rooms mark, thanks in particular to the rapid growth of one of its new brands, Vocospecialising in the conversion of existing hotels, or the strategic alliance with Iberostar to bring the Spanish group's all-inclusive resorts under the IHG umbrella. But above all the Holiday Inn family which still accounts for a large proportion of the British hotel operator's growth. The Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express brands accounted for more than half of its openings worldwide last year. With rejuvenated concepts in Europe, these brands will undergo a refresh in the US market, with two-thirds due to be updated by 2025, as will three-quarters of Crowne Plaza hotels.
At the same time, IHG continues to focus on luxury and lifestyle through the development of its brands acquired at the end of the last decade, including Kimpton, Six Senses and Regent, whose new face is embodied in France by the Carlton in Canneswhich has undergone a complete makeover. In addition, the Group can also rely on another in-house luxury brand, to be launched in 2021, the Vignette Collection which has started to take off around the world.
The world's sixth-largest group, with just over 800,000 rooms, Accor has opened almost 300 new hotels last yearincluding the MGallery The Porter House in Sydney, its 400e hotels in the Pacific. Apart from the North American and Chinese markets - where Accor nevertheless has almost 600 hotels - the French group remains the most represented in the world. And, of course, in Europe, where its long-established brands - Ibis, Novotel and Mercure - play a major role.
However, Accor's development is mainly characterised by the an abundance of new brands Some have been acquired, such as Mama Shelter, 25Hours, Mondrian or Delano on the lifestyle side, Raffles and Fairmont in the luxury sector, not to mention the relaunch of a legendary name in travel, Orient Express. Others have been created in-house, such as Tribe, Greet and Jo&Joe, and more recently, the Handwritten Collection. All in all, the portfolio is the most diversified of the major hotel groups, with around forty brands, compared with less than 20 at IHG or Hilton, for example.
In the course of last year, the Group began to put in place a new growth strategy between its 'power brands' and its luxury and lifestyle brands into two entities with different perimeters. On the one hand, the division will be managed by major world markets, with brands ranging from economy to top-of-the-range, accounting for 75% of its business. On the other hand, the fast-growing luxury and lifestyle division will be managed by brand around four pillars: Raffles and Orient-Express, Sofitel and MGallery, Fairmont and Ennismore, the joint venture dedicated to lifestyle hotels.
While all these groups have seen their offer grow at a rate of 3% to 5% by 2022, another big name in the hotel industry, Hyatt, is still a long way off all these illustrious competitors in terms of number of rooms. But for several years now, this American group has been the one that has seen the biggest growth in the hotel sector. the strongest growth among its peers with growth in the number of rooms of 64% since 2017, compared with 31% for Hilton, 30% for Accor, 22% for Marriott and 14% for IHG. A strategy focused on three key areas: luxury, lifestyle and all-inclusive. The key trends of the moment.
