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Marriott's Ritz-Carlton Brand Debuts in Kazakhstan Capital

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A Marriott International, Inc. (MAR - Free Report) unit, The Ritz-Carlton, recently announced the opening of The Ritz-Carlton, Astana. In fact, this is the first property in Kazakhstan’s capital city under this brand that is part of Marriott’s luxury brands portfolio.

The 157-roomed hotel is suitably located in the Talan Towers, joining a business center and luxury shopping gallery to create the city's first high-end, mixed-use complex. In addition, the property encompasses a Club Lounge, a spa retreat, a grand ballroom, large meeting spaces and three food & beverage outlets.

This new property at Astana also joins a portfolio of over 90 Ritz-Carlton hotels and 40 residential properties worldwide, spanning across more than 30 countries. In fact, with Astana an emerging destination for business and leisure travelers, it is an opportune time to have opened a property there now.

Meanwhile, it is to be noted that in addition to domestic lands, Marriott is consistently trying to expand its presence worldwide and capitalize on the demand for hotels in the international markets, especially in Asia, Latin America, Middle East and Africa. We believe that the demand for hotels in these markets is greater than in the domestic space as the rising disposable income, primarily among the middle classes, is boosting tourism.

Notably, after announcing the acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts on Sep 23, 2016, Marriott has become the world’s largest hotel company. Currently, it has more than 6,100 properties across 124 countries and territories, under 30 brand names. In fact, post-acquisition of Starwood, shares of the company gained 58%, while the S&P 500 index grew 12.5% in the same time frame, depicting the positive effect of the acquisition.



Given strong transient demand along with improvements in business and leisure travel, we believe Marriott is poised to grow in the near as well as long term. Further, investments in technology for hotel bookings are likely to improve guest experience and thus boost occupancy. In addition, the company believes that the linking of three industry-leading guest loyalty programs – Marriott Rewards, Ritz-Carlton Rewards, and Starwood Preferred Guest – would lead to an even larger loyalty community in the near term.

However, lingering political uncertainties in key international markets along with currency headwinds remain concerns for Marriott as well as most of the other hotel chains including Hyatt Hotels Corporation (H - Free Report) , Hilton Worldwide Holdings (HLT - Free Report) and Wyndham Worldwide Corporation .

Notwithstanding the headwinds, this Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company’s continual expansion efforts and an unmatched portfolio of lodging brands, raises optimism in the stock. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.

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