Marriott wants another hotel

The US-based hotel chain Marriott International intends to enter the Romanian market with its second hotel under a management contract, Kurt Strohmeyer, the general manager of the five-star JW Marriott in Bucharest told ZIARUL FINANCIAR. “We want to expand Marriott”s portfolio in Romania, so that we could enter with one of the following brands: Renaissance, Courtyard by Marriott or Ritz Carlton,” says Strohmeyer. He adds that the new hotel could be located in Bucharest, as well as in Timisoara, Brasov, Cluj-Napoca or Sibiu. “There”s lots of possibilities to do business in the northern part of Romania and we believe good hotels are needed there,” Strohmeyer explains. Renaissance and Courtyard are four-star brands, while Ritz Carlton is part of the luxury (five-star) portfolio of Marriott International, along with JW Marriott. “We are looking for four and five-star hotels to operate under a management contract. When franchising, there”s always the possibility of Marriott”s standards not being upheld, because everything is up to the owners. One might manage the hotel well, while another might not,” Strohmeyer added. The company runs the five-star JW Marriott in the Capital under a management contract. “We are mainly talking with investors in view of building new hotels. We hope to have a second hotel in 2007, but as long as there”s no contract signed, we cannot say anything certain about a date,” Strohmeyer concluded. ZF