Market Entry & Expansion Strategy – France
Horwath HTL has been appointed by Marriott International to assess, evaluate and select French cities that should be a priority for the future expansion of their brand ‘Courtyard by Marriott’.
Project Scope
The brief was to assess and evaluate French cities that might have the potential for further expansion of Marriot ‘Courtyard by Marriott’ brand. The aim of the study was to create a list that prioritised the cities by a number of set criteria. The firm worked on the development of the criteria, looking at the key components for success. This meant a detailed investigation of the current performance of the target cities, looking at performance, size, segmentation, supply and demand markers.
In addition to the performance of each market segment in each city, which would give a good indication of potential, Horwath HTL also examined ownership and financing landscape. Which markets had a sophisticated level of ownership that would be prepared to invest in an international brand against strong domestic competition? Which markets had good potential for new development versus conversion of existing assets, which markets had good potential sites that were available for development? Which cities had the most amenable attitude towards planning and licencing? All of these considerations needed to be taken into account before providing a recommendation to Marriott.
Implementation
Four cities in France have been recommended after thorough market and site analysis. Following on the success of this engagement, Horwath HTL was assigned by the Client for several more engagements with a similar scope of work, where the potential of markets such as Russia and Kazakhstan was assessed.