Skift Take
Hotel execs gathered this week to compare the sizes of their hotel pipelines. The companies with the largest hotel development forecasts were Marriott and Hilton, and the types of properties proving popular says a lot about their strategic directions.
Marriott and Hilton joined all the major hotel groups this week in providing updates on their hotel development pipelines as they gathered at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) in Los Angeles.
Here are the biggest takeaways:
Marriott It has 573,000 rooms in development. If all of those are built, its worldwide room count will rise by 36%. Marriott has a barbell strategy that emphasizes development in luxury and midscale (while not neglecting other segments). It claimed to have the most luxury hotels, with 623 open — and another 245 on the way. This month, the group saw construction start on the first hotel for StudioRes, its new brand in the "affordable midscale" segment of extended stay brands. It said it had "approximately 300 other potential deals under discussion in 150 markets." Marriott has signed deals to open Apartments by Marriott Bonvoy — a brand launched a year ago — in Detroit and St. Louis; Courmayeur, Valle D'aosta in Italy; and NEOM in Saudi Arabia.Skift Take: Marriott previewed StudioRes last June and officially launched it in August. So it's mil