More good news for Croatia tourism in the hotel sector.
After the Kupari tourist complex, where it will operate its hotels in cooperation with the Russian Avenue Group as an investor, Marriott International will by 2020 open another 4-5 hotels in Croatia under various Marriott brands in different destinations, including Zagreb, reports Poslovni.hr on November 17, 2015.
This has been confirmed by Ivica Čačić, regional vice president of development for Marriott in Eastern Europe. “The goal of Marriott is to open at least one hotel in every capital city in the region, and in Croatia there is additional potential for several city and resort hotels along the coast”, said Čačić who has been a Marriott representative for the last several years and has already talked with the owners of hotels in Istria, Rijeka, Opatija, Split, Zagreb and Dubrovnik.
The arrival of such prestigious hotel chain in Croatia has long been expected. It would be a kind of a turning point in creating a serious global tourist destination. Marriott operates 4,200 hotels in 79 countries, and last year its income was about 14 billion dollars. The portfolio of the group will soon grow by another 50 percent, after Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood chain is finalized, which will make Marriot by far the largest operator with approximately 5,500 hotels and 1.1 million rooms worldwide. Of its 19 brands, the most famous is Ritz-Carlton, under which the Avenue Group hotels in Kupari will also operate.
It cannot be predicted when will Marriott’s plans for Croatia be implemented, because everything depends on the pace of negotiations with the owners of the hotels. Not only does the hotel operator has its own strict requirements and criteria, but the contract must be appealing to the owners of the hotels as well, since the cooperation with the global hotel brand costs serious money. However, Ivica Čačić explains why owners should not doubt the viability of such investments.
“Since 2007, when I began working for Marriott, I have negotiated several projects, often with investors who are the owners of several hotels in one destination. I am trying to show investors that the costs are justified by increased revenues of individual hotels and by significant improvement of brand identity of the destination in the global market. We should not underestimate the fact that Marriott has 50 million loyal members who prefer to stay in Marriott’s hotels”. However, Čačić did not want to discuss potential partners in Croatia, as well as give any comments on rumours that Marriott might enter the Split West Gate Centre.
