Pictured: rendering of The Ritz-Carlton Ningbo, China.

Marriott International’s luxury lifestyle brand Ritz-Carlton is expanding its reach in Asia, with a significant chunk of its pipeline focused on the continent.

With the five star marque beginning in the US over 100 years ago, the gold hospitality standard banner is definitely looking east for its future development.

50% expansion

As at end of Q2 2022, Marriott International recorded that Ritz-Carlton currently has 109 operating units in 36 countries worldwide, totalling a 29,526 room-capacity.

According to the TOPHOTELPROJECTS database, there are currently at least 55 properties in the brand’s pipeline, encompassing 10,551 rooms, indicating a global growth of 50% over the next few years. The development rate remains broadly the same as our database figures in 2021, when 54 hotels totalling 11,009 keys were on the slate.

The pipeline pace is steady, with 11 openings scheduled for this year, another 10 next year and seven in 2024. The remaining 27 are either slated for 2025 and beyond or are yet to be assigned a due date.

Asian concentration

Asia is very much the focus for upcoming hotels, with 27 sites earmarked for the continent, 49% of the Ritz-Carlton projects we have on file. The brand’s North American home comes second with 15 further hotels, while another five takes Africa into third place.

Drilling down further into the data we find that China takes the lion’s share when it comes to individual country development, with 17 sites. South east Asia’s Thailand makes the top three with three projects, alongside Morocco and Australia, while USA splits the rankings with eight hotels underway. At least 55 countries are represented in the pipeline.

Far East developments

One of the most recently-announced Chinese project was The Ritz-Carlton Ningbo, a 257-key hotel being developed by Shanghai Construction Group Co, Shanshan Group Co and Greentown China Holdings. It’ll occupy levels 62 to 80 of the 409 m Ningbo Central Plaza tower, which promises to become a new icon of the city’s skyline. The hotel levels will house a club lounge, lobby lounge, destination bar, all-day dining venue, Chinese restaurant, specialty restaurant and 1,700 sq m of banquet space.

While one of the Thai additions is The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok, set to bring 259 rooms online in Q2 2025. Together with Andaz One Bangkok, the hotel will occupy a planned 50-storey tower in The One Bangkok lifestyle development. The Ritz-Carlton Bangkok will take up the first 25 floors of the building and feature one of the largest ballrooms in Thailand, four restaurants and bars, as well as extensive spa and fitness facilities.

Many TOPHOTELNEWS articles draw on exclusive information from the TOPHOTELPROJECTS construction database. This subscription-based product includes details of thousands of hotel projects around the world, along with the key decision-makers behind them. Please note, our data may differ from records held by other organisations. Generally, the database focuses on four- and five-star schemes of significant scale; tracks projects in either the vision, pre-planning, planning, under-construction, pre-opening or newly opened phase; and covers newbuilds, extensions, refurbishments and conversions.

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