Post Starwood merger, Marriott hotels rolls out Chinese menus as it eyes further expansion

Imagine waking up in your favourite London hotel and going to the restaurant for breakfast, expecting to see a full English menu of scrambled eggs, toast and bacon — but you spot something new in the dining hall: noodles, steamed buns and deep fried Chinese bread sticks.

Chefs at western luxury hotels such as Marriott International are planning to add more Chinese-style dishes to their breakfast menus in the battle to entice some of the millions of globe-trotting, big-spending mainland Chinese holidaymakers.

“This dynamic of being ready for the largest community of outbound travellers in the world is very important,” Craig Smith, Asia Pacific managing director for Marriott, told the South China Morning Post.

The US hotel group, renowned for its premium JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton brands and already the world’s largest hotelier, also wants to add to its scale following the US$13 billion landmark merger with former rival Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide this year.

With the combination of Starwood’s W Hotels, Westin, and Sheraton, the expanded Marriott comprises 30 brands with more than 5,700 hotels. That amounts to 1.1 million rooms in over 120 countries.

Smith argues, however, that its current 4-5 per cent market share is still “nothing” given a disproportionate number of hotels in the world that are “not branded”.