Marriott has been on fire lately. Here are some of Marriott’s acquisitions in the second half of 2014.
They added The Atlantis Resort on Paradise Island, Bahamas to their Autograph Collection. That has made this utterly expensive resort readily available to everyone who can get a credit card or two.
They acquired South Africa’s Protea Hotel Group, and within the next several years, it seems, they will be everywhere in Africa, bringing a hugely expensive African safari vacation into the realm of an award stay. Here is the list of countries they are planning to open hotels by 2020: Algeria, Benin, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Gabon, Mauritius, Morocco, Nigeria, Rwanda, South Africa, Tunisia, and Zambia.
They created a new eye-catching brand Moxi (Aloft-envy, perhaps?). The first Moxy hotel has opened at Milan Airport (10,000 points per night) with plans for more Moxy hotels in Munich, Frankfurt and Berlin in Germany; Oslo, Norway; Aberdeen in Scotland, and London in England.
Their Autograph collection has expanded some more–with the addition of an iconic Mauna Kea Beach Hotel on Kohala Coast, in Hawaii. And in March 2015, they are opening JW Marriott Venice Resort & Spa–guess where, LOL–built on a private island, and with a rooftop pool overlooking this fabulous, ancient city. I was a bit surprised to find it was a Category 8 hotel (40,000 points), but well, I couldn’t find a single date in 2015 where it would be available on points. Probably because it hasn’t been open yet, so let’s hope you will be able to book a 5-night stay at something that looks like an amazing hotel in Venice for 160,000 points–hefty, but doable.
Marriott has acquired Delta Hotels–the most venerable hotel chain in Canada.
The Delta brand comprises a diverse range of hotels and resorts with 38 hotels and 10,000 rooms in more than 30 cities across Canada. Delta offers a fresh approach to the guest experience, including its new ModeRoom™ guest room designs, innovative use of new technologies, and new properties, such as its flagship Delta Toronto located at the hub of Canada’s hottest high-rise neighborhood, South Core. When completed, the transaction will increase Marriott’s distribution in Canada to more than 120 hotels and 27,000 rooms, making Marriott the largest full service hotel company in Canada.
- Winnipeg
- Fredericton
- Moncton
- Saint John
- Halifax
- Guelph
- Kingston
- London
- Markham
- Mississauga
- Ottawa
- Sault Ste. Marie
- Toronto
- Waterloo
- Montréal
- Québec
- Saguenay
- Sherbrooke
- Trois-Rivières
- Charlottetown
- Regina
- Saskatoon
- Delta Thunder Bay
- Delta Prince George
- Delta Burlington Waterfront
- Delta Edmonton
- Delta Calgary International Airport
Marriott Rewards used to be like plain vanilla of hotel loyalty programs.
This is not the case anymore. Luckily, there are ways to get Marriott points from sources other than BIB (butt in bed). It seems that the Chase Marriott Credit Card 70K offer is back, and the awesome Chase Ritz Carlton credit card 140,000 offer is still in effect. Then there is a Chase Marriott 50K business credit card offer (which has never appealed to me, but now, since they are getting everywhere, I might reconsider). There is also a transfer option from the Chase Ultimate Rewards program, which–again–I would never consider in the past and probably won’t consider in the future, LOL, but it’s good to know it’ there. It’s really nice how Marriott is acquiring hotels left and right; hotels that are diverse and quite honestly don’t make sense to me right now. 🙂 Way to go, Marriott! I’m with you.
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Same instructions with pictures
[…] hotels are special, many are standard chain hotels. The Lazy Traveler’s Handbook has a good recap of that and Marriott’s other recent additions. It will likely take some time to bring Delta […]