Marriott Plans 'Explosive' Asia Expansion

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Marriott International plans to open one hotel every eight days through 2016 in Asia. 

The hotel brand expects to double its presence in the region in the next three years, reaching a total of 330 hotels with more than 96,000 rooms across 16 countries, the company said in a statement.

"Our explosive expansion across the region reflects the popularity of our brands in Asia with owners and customers alike, and with a hotel opening almost every week across the continent we will be poised to welcome travelers from the world over," Marriott International chief executive Arne Sorenson said in the statement. 

Marriott currently has 186 hotels in its signed pipeline -- hotels they have already signed to open -- and expects to open more than 135 in the next three years. The company will open six Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott brand hotels in Asia this month alone. 

"We are also entering new markets in Asia, having recently signed hotels in Nepal, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh," Simon Cooper, Marriott International's managing director, Asia Pacific, said in the release. "China remains our biggest market in the region with 64 open hotels and signed contracts for an additional 89 hotels, which will take us to more than 150 hotels in the country in the next three years or so."

They plan to grow from 16 cities in China to more than 50 cities by 2016. 

The expansion will be across Marriott's various brands, including Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, Marriott Hotels, Courtyard and Marriott Executive Apartments. 

The company expects to add 50 hotels under its flagship Marriott Hotels brand in the next few years. The Asia expansion for the Ritz-Carlton brand is part of the brand's aggressive global growth plan revealed last month. 

Marriott expects to double its workforce to more than 80,000 employees to meet the expansion in Asia, with half of them in China alone.