Luxury and lifestyle hotels continue to be in hot demand with record average room rates at Marriott International’s Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, W, and Luxury Collection branded hotels in Australia, according to Vice President of Hotel Development ANZP, Richard Crawford.
As the world’s largest hotelier, Marriott International manages and franchises hotels across all tiers of accommodation. Most notably, we are recognised as the global leader in the luxury accommodation segment, with Ritz-Carlton, St. Regis, JW Marriott, W Hotels, Edition, The Luxury Collection, and Bvlgari brands enjoying dominant market profiles and growing footprints.
Lifestyle brands, however, are not exclusively the domain of luxury accommodation, with Marriott’s Select brands including AC Hotels, Aloft and Moxy offering distinctive contemporary accommodation at affordable price points. And, our upper-upscale brands including Westin, Le Meridien, and Autograph Collection provide engaging lifestyle offerings in the traditional five-star segment.
A feature of Marriott’s current period of growth in Australia has been reinvigoration in the luxury accommodation segment, buoyed by a resurgent affluent domestic travel market, in what our industry is widely terming a “flight to quality”. Our Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, W, and Luxury Collection branded hotels in Australia have been amongst our highest performing assets in recent years, demonstrating evidence of strong travel demand for luxury experiences with global pedigree.
Record average room rates at these hotels has given confidence to hotel developers, who recognise there is now a strong business case for luxury hotels in Australia. This investor appetite has seen Marriott recently announce St. Regis, Ritz-Carlton, and Luxury Collection resorts to be built on the Gold Coast. Of note, global demand for luxury travel is expected to grow by 9% over the next three years, whilst new hotel supply in this segment will only increase by 5%, signaling a favourable outlook for hotel investors.
Importantly, at Marriott we are focused on satisfying the changing needs of travellers in the luxury and lifestyle segments, who we know through our research, such as Luxe Landscapes Report demand once-in-a-lifetime experiences, hyper-personalisation, authenticity, wellness, and sustainability. Our commitment to honouring these trends includes specialised attention to operations, design, food and beverage, and talent.
In the last two years, Marriott International has added three luxury hotels to our Australia Pacific portfolio, with the opening of W Sydney (the world’s largest W hotel), The Ritz-Carlton Melbourne, and JW Marriott Auckland. In the same period, hotel openings in the Select and Premium lifestyle segments have included Le Meriden Melbourne, Moxy Sydney Airport, and AC Hotel by Marriott Melbourne Southbank. These advancements reinforce Marriott’s position as the leader in luxury and lifestyle hotels in Australia and provide further world-class examples of how we are reshaping the quality and diversity of our local industry.
Read the full Luxury & Lifestyle development outlook in the latest issue of HM Magazine.