Marriott plans 26 new hotels in UAE

　　Marriott International is set to open six new luxury hotels throughout the Middle East, and more than half of them will be in the UAE.

　　Dubai alone is set to get three new hotels in the coming months, including a Renaissance hotel in the Downtown area, a W hotel on the Palm Jumeirah and a Bulgari hotel on Jumeira Bay Island. The Bulgari will have its soft launch in the next few weeks, while the Renaissance Downtown is due to open in the next few months, and the W is expected to begin welcoming guests on the Palm in early 2018.

　　According to Neal Jones, chief sales and marketing officer for the Middle East and Africa at Marriott International, the company is targeting an additional 26 hotels in the UAE.

　　“In the UAE, we currently have 50 hotels open and operational, and 26 in the pipeline,” Jones told Gulf News. “Around 21 of those hotels will be in Dubai.”

　　Marriott currently operates 54,818 guestrooms across 243 properties in the Middle East and Africa, and will be introducing another four brands, from its portfolio of 30, across the two continents over “the next few years,” according to Jones.

The company has a signed pipeline of 130 hotels throughout the region, which equates to around 35,000 guestrooms, set to be completed by 2025 or 2026.