Marriott International unveils Darwin plans

THE $200m luxury Westin Darwin Hotel will bring thousands of new tourists to our city and deliver a new standard of luxury accommodation Marriott International executives have promised

THE $200m luxury Westin Darwin Hotel will bring thousands of new tourists to our city and deliver a new standard of luxury accommodation Marriott International executives have promised.

THE $200m luxury Westin Darwin Hotel will bring thousands of new tourists to our city and deliver a new standard of luxury accommodation Marriott International executives have promised.

Development Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific senior director Richard Crawford said the full arm of the Marriott International network would be used to put Darwin on the international destination map.

“We’ll have 232 rooms and if you look at 75 per cent occupancy that’s probably 70,000 room nights, which extrapolates to 100,000 people if you take 1.5 people per room,” he said. “They’ll spend $25 million at the hotel and double that to get here and elsewhere.”

Mr Crawford gave a sneak peak on Tuesday of what Darwin could expect when the luxury Westin is completed in two years.

• OFFER ENDS SOON! SIGN up for Kayo plus NT News in our best ever subscription deal for sport lovers

“Darwin Westin will be a part of the biggest hotel company in the world,” Mr Crawford said. “It will be part of a very awesome machine.

“We are opening a hotel every 14 hours for the next three years somewhere in the world so Westin Darwin will bring a number of different layers of opportunity for the city.

“The arrival of Marriott International means you have global marketing machine Darwin is plugged into. Our tentacles reach out far and wide

“This means a multitude of people are seeing Darwin flagged along with Times Square, Jakarta, the Gold Coast and global cities.”

Mr Crawford said in the Australia Pacific region Marriott International looked at about 350 opportunities a year, but will only do eight.

“We’re very selective and a few key things have to line up such as a great location in a market with prospects for success,” he said.

“We also have to have a political environment that offers stability and action and is backing tourism. These things have aligned so it was very easy decision for us.

“International visitation is higher with our product than any of our competitors.

“So at the moment the Territory receives 16 per cent of its overnight visitors from overseas.

“On any given night at any of our hotels in Australia it is double that for us.

• NT NEWS subscription special offer: $1 for first 28 days

“This will be good news for Darwin because it means it has the capacity to grow market.

“We will attract international and domestic leisure customers based purely on the fact Westin is now in Darwin.

“We will help the seasonality problems.

“We know that a thousand square metres of conference space will attract a cohort of associations and corporate events that are missing out on Darwin right now.”