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India continues to show the strongest growth for us in the Asia-Pacific region, Marriott International’s South Asia area Vice-President, Ranju Alex, said here on Thursday.
“Growth momentum remains intact. India is seeing the most robust growth in Asia-Pacific. In RevPar (revenue per available room), top line, bottom line, growth in India is higher. Even in guest sentiment rating, we are the highest and have beaten China as well,” Alex added.
While demand softened in July due to rains, outlook for the year remains positive. “Meetings and social events are back. Staycations continue to remain in fashion,” Alex said.
Marriott International is the largest hospitality company in the world. In India, it operates 145 properties and has 70 another in pipeline.
Tie-up with HDFC Bank
On Thursday, Marriott International and HDFC Bank launched India’s first co-branded hotel credit card to tap the surge in travel demand in the country.
Globally, Marriott International is present in 139 countries and its loyalty programme Marriott Bonvoy has 180 million members. “Fifty five per cent of business globally comes from loyalty members. The numbers are growing and globally each month, we are adding 1.5 or 2 million members,” said the hotel chain’s chief sales and marketing officer (Asia-Pacific), John Toomey.
In India, the loyalty programme has 4.5 million members and membership has doubled in the last four-five years.
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Meanwhile, HDFC Bank remains bullish about its credit card business. The bank has around 100 million customers, but only 17-18 million credit card holders. “There is a lot of headroom for growth,” said Parag Rao, Country Head (payments business) - Consumer Finance, Technology and Digital Banking, HDFC Bank.
Average industry-wide credit card spends have been growing 25-30 per cent annually and HDFC Bank growth is higher than industry, Rao said.
Consumer spends on travel have increased 1.2x over pre-pandemic period and it is expected to grow further as Indians are expected to spend and travel more frequently in 2023 than in 2022.
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