Marriott International signs five-hotel deal with SAMHI Hotels

Marriott International signed a five-hotel conversion deal with SAMHI Hotels for its Fairfield by Marriott brand in India. The brand expects to add a total of 583 new rooms to its existing portfolio, making Fairfield by Marriott one of the fastest-growing brands for Marriott International in the Asia-Pacific region. The addition of these hotels, located in destinations across Chennai, Pune, Goa, Delhi and Bengaluru, will significantly increase Marriott International’s presence in the upper-midscale tier in India.

“We are extremely excited about this venture with SAMHI Hotels, one of our longstanding partners in India. With the conversion of these five hotels to Fairfield by Marriott, SAMHI Hotels will now have 14 hotels managed by Marriott International across a range of our brands in India as we look at further expanding across the country,” said Paul Foskey, Marriott’s chief development officer in Asia-Pacific.

Ashish Jakhanwala, MD and CEO of SAMHI Hotels said, “We have had a strong association with Marriott International in India and are happy to further strengthen this relationship with the signing of the five hotel conversion deal to Fairfield by Marriott. Our research and observations have concluded that the Indian market is extremely cost sensitive with a great affinity for midscale brands and we see great growth potential in the coming years.”

The Indian tourism and hospitality industry has seen a paradigm shift in recent years where an increasing number of travelers are opting for upper-midscale hotels. Marriott International has embraced this opportunity through its aggressive expansion of the Fairfield by Marriott brand across the region.

 

The Fairfield by Marriott brand has created its niche in the Indian hospitality industry, with nine hotels currently open across the country since it debuted in 2013.  In addition to the 10 operational Fairfield Hotels in South Asia, there are an additional 13 in the pipeline, including the five conversions with SAMHI, that are expected to open, taking the total count to 23 Fairfield by Marriott hotels in the region.

Neeraj Govil, area VP, South Asia for Marriott International said, “The medium- and long-term outlook for the Indian hospitality business continues to be positive, across all segments. We continue to focus on growing our portfolio of upper-midscale hotels in India as we foresee immense growth opportunity in this segment, fueled by an increasing number of travellers opting for hotels positioned in this tier to cater to their business and leisure needs.”