Marriott International's Chief Operating Officer for the Middle East & Luxury, Europe, Middle East & Africa, Sandeep Walia, outlined eight hotel openings planned for 2026 and presented the group's annual Ticket to Travel research at a press conference in Dubai in November 2025, with the St Regis London emerging as the most closely watched launch on the calendar.
The Pipeline
The 195-room St Regis London, situated on Bond Street, will offer a spa, pool, gym and fine-dining restaurants. It was the final property Walia revealed, underscoring its status as the group's flagship opening of the year.
In Saudi Arabia, the 210-key W Riyadh is set to open in the King Abdullah Financial District, marking the debut of W Hotels in the kingdom. The property is positioned to embody the brand's repositioned identity as a global luxury-lifestyle brand — a shift Marriott has been executing since 2025 through renovations at W New York – Union Square and European properties including W Budapest, W Prague and W Florence.
In the UAE, Moxy Al Barsha Dubai is scheduled to open next summer as the brand's first Middle East Moxy. Kuwait's JW Marriott Hotel Kuwait City has already reopened following renovations to its 300-key property, including an expanded ground floor.
In Europe, Amoh, A Luxury Collection Resort, Rhodes will bring private beach access, six restaurants and three bars to the Greek island town of Pefkos. W Sardinia – Poltu Quatu, the brand's first Mediterranean W, adds 154 rooms and four restaurants. The Lake Como Edition, which had a soft launch in 2025, will be fully open for summer 2026 with 148 rooms, a longevity spa and an indoor thermal pool inside a 19th-century palazzo. St Regis Budapest, meanwhile, has converted the Klotild Palaces — a Unesco World Heritage Site — into a 102-room five-star hotel.
Loyalty and Branded Residences
Marriott Bonvoy crossed 260 million members, with Walia citing new partnerships — including with Etihad Arena — as evidence of growing demand for experiential travel. Branded residential developments are also expanding beyond the luxury tier into premium brands; the Nujuma, Ritz-Carlton Reserve Residence in Saudi Arabia sold out within six months, while the Dubai Beach Edition is targeted for 2029.
Travel Trends
Marriott's research predicts travellers will take an average of seven trips in 2026, with friends, family and social media as the primary sources of inspiration. Two emerging behavioural patterns stand out: "lux-scaping" — bookending longer trips with short luxury stays or spa visits — was reported by 80% of survey respondents, while "passion pursuits", cited by half of all respondents, describes travel motivated by sports events, concerts and adventure tourism such as safaris and treks. Average daily rates continue to rise as resorts become more experiential, Walia noted.
Why it matters
For tour operators and bedbanks active in the EMEA corridor, the pipeline confirms that Marriott is concentrating new inventory in markets — Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Greece and Italy — that are already absorbing strong forward demand. The W Riyadh opening is particularly significant: it introduces a lifestyle brand into the kingdom's KAFD district at a moment when Saudi Arabia is aggressively building its MICE and leisure infrastructure. The lux-scaping and passion-pursuits data carry direct distribution implications: travellers are constructing more complex, multi-stop itineraries with premium accommodation anchoring each end, which raises the average booking value and creates upsell opportunities for agents packaging events alongside hotel stays. The continued rise in ADR, confirmed by Marriott's own operational data, also signals that rate compression in the luxury segment is not imminent — relevant intelligence for hotel investors and revenue managers benchmarking against the group's portfolio.
