High interest rates, land cost are challenges for Marriott: Craig Smith

A year ago, Marriott International became the world’s largest hotel chain by acquiring Starwood. It also emerged as the biggest (by number of rooms) in India, overtaking Indian Hotels Company. CRAIG SMITH, its president and managing director for the Asia-Pacific region, speaks to Ajay Modi on its India aims and the challenges here. Edited excerpts:
 
How are the synergies shaping up after the merger with Starwood Hotels, especially for India?
 
We are in the middle of that, as the deal happened about a year ago. Synergies are happening in three groupings. There are corporate synergies. We now need