Marriott Boosts Portfolio With 516 Property Additions In '19

In a bid to maintain its position as the fastest-growing global hospitality company, Marriott International (NASDAQ:MAR) has been strengthening its presence worldwide. Recently, the company announced that 2019 was the seventh straight year of record-breaking organic room signings. In the year, the company signed 815 deals representing over 136,000 rooms.

Notably, the company expanded its pipeline to nearly 515,000 rooms as of year-end 2019 for the first time in its history. During the year, it also added 516 properties with more than 78,000 rooms in 60 countries and territories.

The brand’s strong value, loyalty program and operational independence will continue attracting guests. "With growth and loyalty as the cornerstones of our company's success, our unrivaled 2019 signings illustrate our winning strategy, which combines leading brands, powerful business platforms and an enduring focus on our associates," as stated by Tony Capuano, group president, Global Development, Design and Operations Services, Marriott International.

Also, Marriott is consistently making investments in new locations for its various brands to meet growing demand for its hotels, both domestically and internationally.

In 2019, the company signed 42 luxury projects in 27 countries and territories. It also opened or converted 34 properties such as The St. Regis Venice, W Dubai – The Palm, The West Hollywood EDITION and The Ritz-Carlton, Pune. Marriott focuses on expanding its leading luxury footprint and to this end, it is revitalizing W Hotels.

Additionally, the company is trying to strengthen presence outside the United States, especially in Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. In fact, Marriott intends to expand its lead in the luxury and full-service segments in these region, have the largest portfolio in the upscale division and also win over millennials in the affordable lifestyle group by 2020. It is also very optimistic about growth opportunity in India.

We believe these above-mentioned tailwinds will help the company to counter competition from the likes of Choice Hotels International, Inc. (NYSE:CHH) , Hilton Worldwide Holdings Inc. (NYSE:HLT) and Hyatt Hotels Corp. (NYSE:H) .

A glimpse of this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s price trend reveals that Marriott has outperformed the industry in the past year. The stock has gained 24.9% compared with the industry’s 23.8% growth. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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