Marriott gives it answer to a five-star hotel in Darwin

Luxury hotel chain Marriott International says it is more committed than ever to having a five star hotel in Darwin.

INTERNATIONAL luxury hotel chain Marriott International says it is more committed than ever to a hotel in Darwin.

The company, which offers the most powerful portfolio in the industry with 30 brands and 7000-plus properties across 131 countries, says the time is still right for the Marriott to have a Darwin luxury hotel at the Darwin Waterfront.

Marriott International vice president Hotel Development Australia, New Zealand and the Pacific Richard Crawford said a Marriott International Hotel will put the focus on Darwin on a global map.

“The Marriott International website is the seventh biggest consumer website in the world,” Mr Crawford said.

“The appetite for people to book online is immense and Darwin will be among the sites people across the globe will see. The way to be more prominent as a destination is to have people like the Marriott taking Darwin to the market with our brand. It is very powerful when you are a small jurisdiction with a small marketing budget that you have a major international chain doing the heavy lifting for you.

“Marriott’s view is that Darwin is exceptionally well placed. Domestic leisure tourism is fuelling high occupancy rates and high average nightly rates across regional Australia and that's the silver lining.”

Mr Crawford said he was more excited today than he was pre-Covid about the prospect of a new five-star hotel in Darwin. “What Covid is doing is making people that live in our big cities contemplate a different way of life and we are seeing people going to Covid safe places like the Territory for their holidays and in many cases to stay,” he said.

“They are looking for somewhere to relax in a safe environment because they can’t travel overseas. It is opening up migration opportunities where people are saying that they don’t need to live in the CBDs of Sydney or Melbourne anymore. They are saying ‘I can actually work from somewhere else’.

“We are seeing real change to the paradigm of how people view, not only their holidays, but the way they live.

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“Darwin is in a very good position. I think what we see now because of Covid is a sustained renaissance in domestic leisure travel. The memory of Covid will not be like other blips we have had in international travel. Covid is far more serious and has far more lasting effects in terms of people’s appetite to travel offshore.

“So within Australia and the Northern Territory other destinations will enjoy sustained popularity. Then when people are eventually travelling to Australia I think our reputation, our appeal as a destination, much like others that have a clean safe reputation will be a beneficiary.”

Mr Crawford said the prospects of the Territory becoming an energy and resource hub bringing new industry and a bigger NT population was a further positive.

“Upscale hotels need a mix of demand drivers and that comes from a strong economy, but also a strong visitor market,” he said. “A strong economy will underpin the success of a five star Marriott hotel in Darwin.”