Yahoo Finance Marriott (MAR) Unveils Another Aloft Hotel in Louisville
On Jan 13, Marriott International, Inc. MAR announced the opening of its new hotel under the Aloft brand in Louisville, KY. Located close to major points like Baptist East, Tom Sawyer Park, Ford Motor Company, General Electric, numerous corporate offices as well as a retail shopping area, the Aloft Louisville East is the second Aloft property in Louisville.
The hotel is under the ownership and management of M&T, LLC and CRM Companies/PWM Real Estate Holdings, LLC., respectively. It encompasses over 126 loft-style rooms, flexible meeting space along with a live music bar.
Moreover, the hotel features the industry-first keyless entry system, SPG Keyless, that enables guests to use their smartphone or Apple watch as a room key, in addition to other amenities like an indoor pool, a fitness center, along with a one-stop food & beverage area and an outdoor bar.
The Aloft brand offers a tech-forward, lively experience to the next generation of tech-savvy travelers and now has over 100 hotels across 19 countries. It is one of the 30 leading brands under Marriott’s operation.
Notably, after announcing the acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts on Sep 23, Marriott has become the world’s largest hotel company, spanning across 120 countries with over 6,000 properties. Shares of the company gained nearly 21%, while Marriott’s peer group’s dipped 6.1% in the said time frame, depicting the positive effect of the acquisition.
Meanwhile, with the boost in the economy, and an improvement in business and leisure travel, Marriott is well poised to grow in the near as well as long term. The company anticipated gross room additions of 6% in 2016. Also, it believes that the linking of three industry-leading guest loyalty programs – Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest – would lead to an even larger loyalty community.
However, revenue growth at Marriot might get restricted as lingering political uncertainty in key international markets and significant currency headwinds are affecting most of the hotel chains including Hyatt Hotels Corporation H, Hilton Worldwide Holdings HLT, Wyndham Worldwide Corporation WYN, etc.
Nonetheless, consistent efforts to expand its presence worldwide and capitalize on the demand for hotels in the international markets, in addition to domestic lands, bode well for this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.
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Wyndham Worldwide Corp (WYN): Free Stock Analysis Report
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