Marriott International, the world’s largest hotel firm by hotel count and market capitalization, has launched a new soft brand, Series by Marriott.
Series by Marriott is Marriott International’s 32nd hotel brand. It also has a home and villa-rental brand and a vacation-club brand.
Series by Marriott's initial deal is with Indian owner Concept Hospitality, which owns Fern Hotels & Resorts.
Marriott said in a news release it “will make a small equity investment” in Concept Hospitality and that the idea of the brand is to group together “midscale and upscale lodging segments.”
Marriott’s president and CEO Anthony Capuano said “[Marriott sees] this multi-unit conversion deal as a strong foundation as we look to accelerate growth of the Series by Marriott collection in additional markets around the world.”
Concept Hospitality was founded in 1996 and its Fern Hotels & Resorts division has six brands and 115 hotels. Most of its properties are in India, but there are three in Sri Lanka, two in China and one in The Seychelles. It has a pipeline of 31 hotels. Between its open hotels and properties in development, its portfolio totals approximately 8,000 hotel rooms.
Hotels in three of those brands — The Fern, The Fern Residency and The Fern Habitat — considered to be its premier brands, will be part of the soft-brand agreement with Series by Marriott.
Marriott added that “Fern properties are expected to join [our] portfolio in India over time following discussions with the third-party hotel owners and execution of long-term franchise agreements with those owners.”
CG Hospitality, the hospitality arm of Nepali conglomerate CG Corp Global, is the majority stakeholder in Concept Hospitality.
Marriott said it is in discussions with owners and operators in other parts of the world in regards to the new brand.