Marriott CEO: Don’t Expect Us to Play in the Midscale Space
Photo Credit: Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson (L) appeared at the Skift Global Forum in New York City September 27, 2017. He spoke about his company's larger strategy for growth on the company's third quarter 2017 earnings call. Skift / Skift
Skift Take
Are 30 brands enough for one hotel company to have? They might be, for now, but we wouldn't rule out the possibility of wanting to add more in a year or two, especially in that red-hot midscale space.
At a time when its peers are using the midscale hotel category to add more brands to their portfolios, Marriott International would rather focus on the upscale to luxury segment — even if its pipeline is already dominated by limited-service hotels.
A focus on the high end of the market, coupled with the ongoing integration process following Marriott's $13.3-billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts in September 2016, is part of Marriott's larger overall strategy as it heads into 2018.
"We're not playing in the midscale space at all," said Marriott CEO Arne Sorenson on a call to discuss the company's third quarter 2017 earnings. "Even in our limited-service pipeline, 50 percent of those assets in the United States are really urban and much more complicated, but that also means higher-rated hotels than the prototypical suburban hotel that you might think of when you think of limited service."
It was a strong quarter for the company, which beat Wal
