Marriott’s Latest Expansion Bid in South Asia: 7 New Hotels, Over 1,500 Keys

Marriott’s extended partnership with Ventive quickens its growth in South Asia, bringing key brands to new markets. The agreement allows Marriott to continue to target India while Ventive gains credibility and scale post-IPO.

Marriott International has signed management contracts with India-based developer Ventive Hospitality for seven luxury, upper upscale, and upscale hotels consisting of 1,548 rooms.

Through this partnership, Marriott brands will debut in locations across Varanasi, Mundra, Pune, and Navi Mumbai in India as well as in Sri Lanka, the companies said in a joint statement.

Upcoming Hotels: Among the seven upcoming hotels of Marriott, one will be a Ritz-Carlton Reserve-branded property in Sri Lanka. The property will consist of 73 villas along with 80 branded residences for sale.

For Ventive, this partnership will mark its debut in Sri Lanka, Skift has learnt.

In India, a 161-key Marriott-branded hotel is set to come up in Varanasi, and a 200-room Courtyard by Marriott at Mundra in Gujarat, India. These three properties will be developed by Ventive Hospitality and its subsidiaries, the developer said in the statement.

Apart from this, JW Marriott Navi Mumbai will consist of 450 rooms and the upcoming Moxy Navi Mumbai will add 200 keys to Marriott’s portfolio. The company also has two Moxy-branded hotels coming up in Pune - a 264-room Moxy Pune Wakad and another 200-key Moxy Pune Kharadi.

These four hotels are being developed by Ventive’s promoter group Panchshil Realty. Explaining the arrangement, Milind Wadekar, executive vice president, finance and investor relations at Ventive told Skift, “Currently, these four assets sit in Panchshil’s balance sheet. These will be transferred to Ventive at a warm shell stage at fair value so Ventive's minority shareholders will benefit from the value captured from the finished hotel.”

According to Wadekar, these hotels will be completed in about five to six years at approximately 250 keys a year.

India Growth Strategy: For Marriott, India is a