Marriott International open 150 new hotels under Moxy brand
Marriott International is to launch its new economy, three-star brand Moxy hotels in early 2014.
The business has plans to add 150 franchised Moxy Hotels to its portfolio across Europe within the next 10 years including locations in Germany, Austria, the UK, Ireland, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Moxy in the UK will be a competitor to Premier Inn, Hampton by Hilton, Ibis and Citizen M.
The first hotel will be built in Italy with partner and development company Inter Hospitality, which is a branch of the property arm of the Inter Ikea group, but "the rooms at Moxy will not include Ikea furniture" said Amy McPherson, president and managing director of Marriott International in Europe. "The design of the rooms show an understanding of providing an efficient space in a stylish way".
The first Moxy will follow openings in Milan, Berlin and Frankfurt. They will be in city centres or close to major railway stations and airports, each with between 150 and 300 bedrooms, minimum of 17sqm room and 42 inch TVs. It is the 12th brand in Europe for Marriott.
"This is a big deal for us. It is not every day that Marriott launches a new brand and we are very excited about it," McPherson added.
The plans are part of Marriott International's overall ambitions to reach 80,000 rooms by 2015.
"We see a huge opportunity to expand our market share in Europe with Moxy hotels. The economy tier in Europe represents nearly half of total room supply, yet only 20% of these hotels are branded. Moxy hotels will be a great addition to our portfolio of brands in Europe."
Peter Andrews, managing director of Inter Hospitality, commented: "The agreement with Marriott and Nordic Hospitality gives us a great opportunity to use our development expertise to build a high-quality hotel property investment portfolio. Our initial focus is on acquiring sites for the new brand in Germany, the UK, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium and Austria. Over the next five years we aim to secure at least 50 sites for development."
Moxy hotels has been in development for nearly two years. Marriott, together with Nordic Hospitality, which will be the first company to operate the new brand, has conducted extensive consumer research across Europe including construction of sample rooms for focus group studies.
