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Marriott plans to add 2,000 jobs in Singapore in 3 to 5 years

SINGAPORE — Marriott International, which on Friday (Sept 23) completed its US$13 billion (S$17.6 billion) acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to create the world’s largest hotel group, plans to add 2,000 new jobs to its 3,800-strong operations in Singapore over the next three to five years to fuel its growth plans.

SINGAPORE — Marriott International, which on Friday (Sept 23) completed its US$13 billion (S$17.6 billion) acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide to create the world’s largest hotel group, plans to add 2,000 new jobs to its 3,800-strong operations in Singapore over the next three to five years to fuel its growth plans.

“With the combined portfolio, we will be looking at bigger office space here (in Singapore) and there will be more job opportunities,” said Mr Rajeev Menon, CEO Asia Pacific (ex-Greater China) at Marriott International on Monday (Sept 26).

The hotel chain, which has 5,700 properties and 1.1 million rooms in 110 countries, employs close to 125,000 employees in the Asia-Pacific and expects to create another 100,000 jobs in the region over the next several years. In Singapore, it will be increasing the number of hotels it manages to 14 from nine at present and adding 1,300 rooms to its existing inventory of 3,000.

Marriott plans to launch another eight brands from its consolidated global portfolio of 30 global brands in Singapore. These include Renaissance, Courtyard, Fairfield, Moxy, Bvlgari and AC Hotels from the Marriot stable as well as the Starwood brands — The Luxury Collection and Tribute Portfolio.

Mr Craig Smith, president of Marriott International in Asia Pacific, said the group is in talks with potential partners in Singapore as it scouts for the right place and property to carry out the expansion plans of the merged hotel chain, which operates just 20 of its brands across 20 countries in Asia.

“This part of the world is growing so fast… China is set to double over the next four to five years, same with the Asia-Pacific region. This office in Singapore becomes critical to us as it is the HQ for Asia Pacific...Hotels in Singapore are running at around 80 to 85 per cent occupancy rates,” Mr Smith said. He added that the recent surge in room inventory in the city-state is no cause for concern.

“If we had governments like that in Singapore elsewhere in the world, we would have been making 10 times as much money. It is a country that is efficient, it is reinventing itself, expanding airport capacity,” Mr Smith said, noting that the Republic is one of the most important business and travel hubs in the Asia Pacific and the world.

The Marriott-managed properties in Singapore currently include the Singapore Marriott Tang Plaza on Orchard Road, The Ritz-Carlton Millenia Singapore, The Ritz-Carlton Residences Singapore Cairnhill while those managed by Starwood include The Sheraton, St Regis Singapore, Four Points, Le Meridien, The Westin Singapore and the W Singapore Sentosa Cove.

“The two companies complement each other...What keeps me awake at night is the merger of the people and culture of the companies. The truth is that the people side of it is the hardest of all. One of our first meetings as a group will be to sit down as a team and talk about the differences and our cultures,” Mr Smith added.

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