Marriott International’s acquisition of Protea Hotels has not only strengthened the South African hotel chain’s brand internationally but has served as an entrance for Marriott into the local market, giving the brands leverage in each other’s markets. This is according to Protea Hotels’ Director of Sales, Marketing and Revenue, Danny Bryer, who spoke to Tourism Update to reflect on the past year of Protea’s transition into a Marriott International affiliate.

Marriott International acquired Protea Hotels in April last year.

Hotel groups had been eyeing the African market as most developing markets outside South Africa did not feature international chains, said Bryer. “Marriott was looking to partner with a brand that had local knowledge to get a foothold into the South African market and expand the Marriott brand as well as its 18 affiliates.”

On the flip side, Protea has noticed increased interest in the brand in key markets abroad, where Marriott is established – something largely attributed to Marriott’s loyalty programme, said Bryer. “We have our Prokard loyalty programme, with a membership of 300 000, while the Marriott Rewards loyalty programme has over 50m members globally. That’s almost the population of South Africa. To be able to market South Africa to the 50m-strong loyalty members is key for us.”

The integration of systems has been the focus of the merger during this first year. “Marriott has over 4 300 hotels globally and the Marriott website is the fourth biggest in America. It was imperative that we became part of their global distribution,” explained Bryer. “The key driver was to ensure that Marriott’s sales offices will start producing new markets in South Africa, especially in light of the recent issues of Ebola and xenophobia, which affected the perception of the country internationally.” As of May, Protea has also been included under the Marriott umbrella on the GDS.

In terms of corporate agreements, Protea’s contracts and terms and conditions do not change. Said Bryer: “The change comes in on the inbound consortia accounts – these contracts now fall under the Marriott environment.”

He added that Marriott’s purchase of Protea had been well received by the trade. “With more consumers going online, the ‘local is global’ concept has become a reality. Protea has now become a global entity that can offer customers the opportunity to travel abroad and receive corporate rates anywhere in the world.

“Up until now, Marriott hasn’t had much weight in South Africa. So the fact that Protea is endorsing Marriott has also been well received.” Marriott International would introduce the Marriott brand in South Africa, said Bryer. Although there are no concrete plans at this stage, the Johannesburg and Cape Town city centres will be considered as the destinations for the properties.