As Marriott International has said it will open six hotels in Asia this month from its Ritz-Carlton and JW Marriott brands.

The company’s growth of The Ritz-Carlton brand continues apace with openings in Chengdu, Tianjin and Bangalore this month, while its JW Marriott brand will open hotels in Hanoi, Bangalore and Delhi.

With 186 hotels in its signed pipeline, more than 135 of which it expects to open in the next three years, Marriott expects to more than double in size in Asia through 2016, reaching at total of 330 hotels with more than 96,000 rooms across 16 countries.

During this time the company expects to open on average one hotel in the continent every eight days.

“This is an exciting time for Marriott as we join with our local hotel development partners in contributing to Asia’s future growth,” said Arne Sorenson, president, Marriott International.

“Our explosive expansion across the region reflects the popularity of our brands in Asia with owners and customers alike, and with a hotel opening almost every week across the continent we will be poised to welcome travellers from the world over.

“To expect to have some 330 hotels in the next three to four years represents phenomenal success of our brands and the commitment of our owners, but to be opening six iconic hotels from two of our world-class luxury brands this month alone is incredible.”

Marriott already operates a broad portfolio of world-class brands in Asia – Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Renaissance, Autograph Collection, Marriott Hotels, Courtyard and Marriott Executive Apartments - and sees tremendous growth potential across all brands in the portfolio targeting different market segments.

The company expects to open 50 hotels under its flagship Marriott Hotels brand alone in the region during the next few years. 

Marriott is also adding to its brand portfolio in Asia, with the introduction of Fairfield by Marriott into India just last week, and the expected arrival of EDITION into Bangkok in 2016.

Fairfield is a significant new brand launch for the company, with 12 hotels signed for India, and additional properties under construction in Indonesia and Nepal.

To meet this growth, Marriott expects to add more than 41,000 new educated and trained associates in Asia, doubling its current workforce in the region to more than 80,000 associates between now and 2017– with half of this number in China alone.