
Having joined the group in 1986, in 2011 she is celebrating a quarter of a century of loyalty and career growth, which brought her from Finances to Revenue Management, and more recently from Global Sales & Marketing to the head of operations for all of Europe, further to a new territorial organization implemented in 2009.
Born upstate New York, but raised in Washington DC, Amy McPherson lived just a few steps away from the headquarters of the group Marriott International in Bethesda, Maryland throughout her youth. After studying Business Management and Economics, after a brief detour in the chemical industry she quite naturally knocked on the doors of the global hotel giant. Having joined the group in 1986, in 2011 she is celebrating a quarter of a century of loyalty and career growth, which brought her from Finances to Revenue Management, and more recently from Global Sales & Marketing to the head of operations for all of Europe, further to a new territorial organization implemented in 2009. President and Managing Director of Europe, a newly formed Division within Marriott that encompasses the United Kingdom, Ireland and Continental Europe, her mission is to develop the group’s brands in these counties and improve their performance. She thus adopted the goal of the group’s N°2, Arne Sorenson: double Marriott’s presence by 2015 and establish all the banners of Marriott’s inventory.The debt crisis has not yet had a significant impact on our business. We have only one hotel in Greece and our portfolio is very diversified elsewhere. Even the recent riots in London’s suburbs did not affect us, aside from a few cancellations of reservations. The only significant slump was felt by properties in the British provinces where activity is weaker. It is necessary to keep an eye on this crisis. In reality the impact is greater on investors who might prove to be more timid. It is also a source of opportunities for a group like ours that has an extremely solid balance sheet.What stage are you at in the development program that you announced?Today we operate around 40,000 rooms in 175 hotels in Europe under all our brands, and in Berlin at the beginning of the year we announced our intention to double this portfolio by adding 40,000 rooms before the end of 2015. Europe is the number-one market worldwide in terms of hotel capacity and Marriott wants to take advantage of all its potential. For this program, we have already signed 80 new hotels, or 17,000 rooms. In France, we manage 16 hotels for approximately 3,700 rooms and 6 hotels are already scheduled: 3 Courtyard by Marriott in Boulogne, Montpellier and Marseille and 3 Renaissance in Aix-en-Provence, Antibes and Paris-St-Cloud. France is one of our priorities considering the size of the market. Today it is the 4th country in terms of rooms, after the United Kingdom, Spain and Germany.Your presence in Spain has grown considerably through the partnership with AC Hoteles. Will you pursue this kind of growth?We clearly stated that we could not reach our goal solely through organic growth of our brands. Partnerships and acquisitions remain an option, but we must be very selective because we have no intention to spoil our brands just to make them grow. The partnership with AC Hoteles is a perfect fit between the quality of hotels developed by Antonio Catalan and their presence on two markets where we were otherwise weak: Spain and Italy. It also makes it possible to confirm the presence of some of our recent brands –such as the Autograph Collection that is a collection of historic properties that are known on their own market but need international marketing. Four of AC’s finest Spanish hotels have just joined the Collection. We have also signed a similar partnership with the Italian group Boscolo, which brings us two hotels in Italy, one in Budapest and one in Prague in the same Collection. In just a few months we have significantly grown their revenues thanks to our network. We are looking for other “regional” opportunities.What other new brands will enter the European market?In Istanbul we launched the boutique hotel brand Edition, which was conceived in a joint-venture with Ian Schrager. The next opening will follow in London with the renovation of the Berners Hotel which we just acquired. Now we absolutely want to find a location in Paris for this contemporary brand. Our luxury brand JW Marriott is beginning to make an appearance after the Grovesnor House in London. The first opening in France was with the former Palais Stéphanie in Cannes and another will follow soon in Ankara, in Turkey. Bvlgari, our other luxury brand, will open its first unit in Knightsbrigde next year. We will also develop our own “extended stay” brand Residence Inn with an initial opening in Edinburgh, followed by another in Munich. There is a very large market in Germany for this brand which has 600 units in America.Doesn’t that mean a lot of new brands to follow and promote, when you already have a strong presence with Marriott, Courtyard, and Renaissance?We have such a distribution network, the biggest online booking website worldwide for tourism, a Marriott Rewards loyalty program with 35 million members, that we need diversity to satisfy all clientele segments with a variety of products and different price ranges. The danger lies in cannibalization between brands and this is not the case, we are cautious about this. I was responsible for Revenue Management for the group so I am very aware of this. Our pipeline also includes many Courtyard properties, which is our limited service brand that corresponds well to the European market and we have forty or so in operation; Renaissance is our Lifestyle brand which is experiencing spectacular growth. I have just returned from Zurich where we inaugurated our third Swiss property. At the beginning of the summer, it was St-Pancras in London. Others will follow.The Renaissance Zurich Tower is a franchise. Will this growth strategy gain momentum?We have more than 80% of our European hotel supply under management contracts to guarantee that our brands are well established. In the United States, the proportion is about 50/50 with franchising. Now that the brands are well established we are aiming for this ratio in Europe as well. This is especially true since we wish to promote partnerships with owner-operator groups for multiple projects.Has the recent economic crisis affected your results in Europe?The debt crisis has not yet had a significant impact on our business. We have only one hotel in Greece and our portfolio is very diversified elsewhere. Even the recent riots in London’s suburbs did not affect us, aside from a few cancellations of reservations. The only significant slump was felt by properties in the British provinces where activity is weaker. It is necessary to keep an eye on this crisis. In reality the impact is greater on investors who might prove to be more timid. It is also a source of opportunities for a group like ours that has an extremely solid balance sheet.
