Of the 22 new hotels that Marriott signed over the past 18 months in South Asia, 15 will be in India. Marriott International currently has 125 hotels totalling around 27,000 rooms across 36 cities in India.
"Now the difference in decline in RevPar against 2019 is in early 40s. In the last couple of months, India is definitely well above 50% occupancy for us. I'm optimistic that we will increase occupancies in India in the months to come. Our new JW Marriott hotels in India will come up in locations such as Goa, Ranthambore, Agra and Shimla. The team has also signed a W hotel in Jaipur. We are well on our way to 200 hotels by 2025," he added.
Marriott will open another three hotels before the end of the year in India followed by eight hotels next year.
"We are seeing growth across segments. We are seeing considerable growth in luxury particularly in resort destinations," he said.
"We are seeing strong growth in select service brands such as the likes of Fairfield and Courtyard by Marriott. In the premium segment too we are seeing growth for Sheraton and Meridien," he added.
He said more hotel owners have been asking for conversion opportunities following the Covid-19 pandemic. "We are doing a considerable number of conversions. That's well north of about 25-30% across Asia," he added.
The one thing that is playing in India's favour is the large domestic population, he said.
"I'm bullish about India's recovery going into 2022 as long as the virus remains contained and considering the vaccination rates and precautions being taken. We see a strong demand for weddings, other social activities. With the large domestic base, you will see India come back reasonably strongly," he added.
He said the recovery in the US and Greater China has been quite strong.
"China has definitely recovered at a much faster pace. In July this year, our RevPAR there was 9% better than 2019," he added.
The hospitality sector was also among the hardest hit in terms of job losses.
Menon said for every individual that the chain had to displace, it worked 'hard' in partnering with some of its global partners such as Amazon and Dell to help its associates find jobs. "As recovery starts, we see a lot of our alumni coming back. We are very comforted by that and we are bringing them back one by one," he added.
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