'Dramatic reinvention' of Sheraton underway: Marriott CEO.

Marriott's major push to reinvent its third biggest brand took hold in the Middle East earlier this month.

“Sheraton is a big brand that suffered from standards that weren’t aggressively developed or implemented,” said Sorenson.

One of the most storied brands in hospitality history, the Sheraton is undergoing a radical reboot that will help “re-awaken” its lost prestige, Marriott’s boss has said.

On a recent visit to Dubai, Marriott CEO, Arne Sorenson, said that the realisation of a “top priority” since the chain’s 2016 merger with Starwood will roll out over the next few months.

“Over the next few years, you’ll see that the worst Sheratons are either dramatically reinvented or they’re gone. That will move the average experience up materially,” he said.

The world’s largest hospitality company, Marriott acquired Sheraton after its $13bn merger with Starwood in 2016. Sheraton is the third largest brand its portfolio, and its largest in terms of room count outside of North America.

By the end of the year, Marriott projects, Sheraton will have exited 8,000 rooms since the merger, while adding 5,000 over the period.

“Sheraton is a big brand that suffered from standards that weren’t aggressively developed or implemented,” said Sorenson. “So what we did right after the merger was pull in Sheraton owners globally and talk about what those standards should be and the time frame to implement them. And we made it very clear to the owners that if they don’t meet those standards then they’re not going to stay in the system.”

“This is a process of a matter of years not months, but we’re already are seeing the impact of our strategy. In terms of RevPar (revenue per available room) compared to hotels that it competes with, Sheraton has already improved since the Starwood merger, owing to that strategy,” said Sorenson.

www.arabianbusiness.com