US Hotel Chains Step Up Expansion Efforts In Europe

Major US hotel chains Four Seasons Hotels Inc., Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. and Marriott International Inc. are stepping up expansion efforts in Europe. In the US, they already control about 70 percent of the market, according to Smith Travel Research Inc.

Four Seasons, based in Toronto, has 14 hotels in Europe and another seven slated to open in the next three to five years. Starwood had 159 European hotels at the end of 2009 and 20 in the pipeline. Marriott expects to double its 40,000 rooms in Europe by 2015 with such brands as the Ritz-Carlton and Bulgari Hotels & Resorts. Hyatt Hotels Corp., the chain controlled by Chicago’s Pritzker family, expects to have a higher percentage of rooms abroad than in the US within a decade. Blackstone Group LP’s Hilton Worldwide operates about 184 hotels across Europe. It had 18 openings in the past year, which included takeovers of independent hotels and franchise agreements.

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