Marriott International aims to boost its appeal to Europe’s middle-class travelers, announcing on Tuesday plans to double its Four Points Flex by Sheraton brand to more than 50 properties by the end of 2026.
The midscale brand, which opened its first property just last year, has quickly grown to 25 hotels and has become Marriott’s fastest-growing brand in the region.
Why it Matters: Until the launch of Four Points Flex by Sheraton, Marriott mainly offered brands in Europe that were concentrated in upscale and luxury, leaving a noticeable gap for the significant market of middle-class travelers.
“Obviously we have a very large array of brands across the world, but we never really had a strong presence in midscale,” said Jerome Briet, chief development officer for EMEA.
The move comes as major hotel groups increasingly view the middle market as their most promising avenue for long-term growth. According to industry experts, this shift is driven by demographic trends showing continued expansion of the global middle class, with an estimated 700 million more people expected to join these ranks by 2030.
“We’ve seen a lot of our competitors, local players, being very strong in that segment,” Briet said. “So we saw an opportunity.”
Breit views the midscale segment as an entry point to acquire travelers who may eventually become luxury customers as their finances prosper over their lives.
Marriott isn’t alone in targeting this market. Competitors including Hilton, IHG, and Hyatt have all launched or expanded midscale brands in recent years, recognizing the segment’s growth potential.
A Geographic Play, Too
Marriott’s decision to launch Four Points Flex in Europe was driven by a need to expand beyond major gateway cities.
“What we realized is, looking at EMEA as a region, and more specifically Europe, is we’ve got a very strong, well established presence in the key capital cities and in the key markets, but we saw an opportunity to grow our portfolio and our customer base into secondary and tertiary cities,” Briet said.
Marriott designed Four Points Flex specifically for easy conversion of existing hotels, rather than new builds, with a specific range of prices and set of amenities aimed to appeal to middle-class travelers.
It’s also run on a franchise, rather than management, model, which enables faster hotel openings.
“Going into the midscale was the best way for us to address that market, and it gives us an opportunity to acquire the customer at the beginning of the hotel journey and help that customer grow amongst the tiers to eventually become one of our luxury customers later on.”
The strong performance of initial launches in Turkey, Denmark, Germany, and the UK has validated Marriott’s strategy and fueled further expansion plans, the executive said.
Marriott plans to debut the brand in Austria and France and expand in existing markets.
Leveraging Loyalty
Marriott’s Bonvoy loyalty program is a key element of its strategy to drive direct bookings and enhance guest retention.
“The launches actually surpassed most of our expectations in terms of performance,” Briet said. “We obviously knew that we had a strong customer base and strong customer demand, but we realized that placing our loyalty program on those assets… really brought a lot of success to these hotels.”
The expansion strategy hinges on converting existing hotels into Four Points Flex properties, offering owners a streamlined operational model and access to Marriott’s distribution networks and the Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program.
“Growing into midscale will get us further exponential growth on the program, and that’s certainly something we are focused on,” Briet said. “We need to be there for our customers every step of the way throughout their journey.”
“That’s why we certainly pushed hard to grow our portfolio into that segment, which touches a customer that we didn’t own,” Briet said.
