Hotel corporation Marriott International, which currently manages more than 3 200 sites worldwide, is contemplating entering the Bulgarian market with three of its established brands, as part of its strategic development plan for South Eastern Europe.

Ivica Cacic, the head of the hotel's South Eastern Europe branch was in Sofia last week in this regard. He said there were four possibilities where the hotel could established, in the city centre itself and several others near Sofia Airport.

Cacic said that there was interest in Plovdiv and other Bulgarian cities for the company's secondary and cheaper brand, Courtyard.

"We are conducting surveys in other Bulgarian towns with population of about 200 000 – 300 000 inhabitants, their economic and tourist potential, and so on," he said, as quoted by Stroitelstvo Gradut.

Marriott has made it clear that is not interested in investing in construction, but rather in managing existing buildings. Its strategy is to obtain management contracts, and not burden itself with construction, market or any other large scale investment risks with its own resources.

This is standard operating procedure for Marriott as out of the 3 200 hotels that it currently manages, it owns less than a dozen.  

"Marriott is a large enough corporation, but it wants to expand its horizons and continue its growth – but not by taking any market or entrepreneur risks, however," Cacic said.

"Moreover, the company will not allow its brand to be franchised, as we don't want to risk the prestige of our name," he said.

Among the requirements are that the hotel must have no less than 150 rooms and that it must be built to standards approved by Marriott.

"The contract must be signed and processed before the planning phase is completed," he said.

Finally, regarding the impact of the global economic downturn on the hotel industry as a whole, Cacic said: "The environment is a lot better now, because the immature and inexperienced players have left the market".