The Caribbean or all-inclusive resorts don't seem to be losing importance to the largest hotel corporation in the world anytime soon.
Only a few days after announcing a deal to acquire a budget hotel chain in Mexico, a move that would reportedly make Marriott International the biggest hotel chain in the Caribbean and Latin America, the American hotel giant revealed on Monday that it was slowing the pace of its all-inclusive growth strategy in the Caribbean.
In the Dominican Republic, Marriott intends to launch an all-inclusive resort under the W brand in collaboration with MAC Hotels and hotel developer Grupo Puntacana.
One of the first all-inclusive W hotels in the world, the adults-only W All-Inclusive Punta Cana in Uvero Alto is anticipated to be the first W in the Dominican Republic.
Since it wasn't evident from the corporate website which other W all-inclusive resorts were already open, a Marriott spokeswoman did not answer in time for publication.
There will be 349 guest rooms at the W All-Inclusive Punta Cana, many of which will have balconies and plunge pools.
The resort will also have a shopping center, three pools with bars, 11 food and beverage outlets, and a spa with 11 treatment rooms.
According to Laurent de Kousemaeker, Marriott's chief development officer for the Caribbean and Latin America, Punta Cana is the ideal location for both the W Hotels brand and an all-inclusive luxury resort.
A partnership with the hotel subsidiary of Sunwing Travel Group's Blue Diamond Resorts helped Marriott's position in the all-inclusive resort market soar last year.
Anthony Capuano, CEO of Marriott, had been advocating for all-inclusive resort growth years before he assumed the position of company president, therefore this strategy had already been in place before that.
A total of seven brands—Ritz-Carlton, the Luxury Collection, Marriott Hotels, Westin Hotels, W, Autograph Collection, and Delta by Marriott—were to be featured when the company's all-inclusive resort platform was formally launched in 2019.
At the time, the business made the observation that W would cater more to adults in an all-inclusive setting, but the Marriott Hotels brand would draw families.
Why now?
In the past, the major hotel chains largely avoided all-inclusive resorts in favor of going after demand for more lucrative business trips or upscale tourism.
Prior to Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt making large investments in the all-inclusive market, brands like Sandals and Club Med dominated the market.
Why now?
why not
The demand for leisure travel increased dramatically during the epidemic, and the popularity of flexible work arrangements increases the likelihood that this need will continue to grow.
Capuano described Marriott's all-encompassing expansion strategy to Skift in 2019 as being "to be determined" in terms of how quickly we'll get there and how huge it might be.
But expanding our resort portfolio moving forward is crucial from a strategic perspective.
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