After the recent acquisition of Starwood, hotel giant Marriott has launched a new luxury division that will include St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W hotels, Ritz-Carlton, Ritz-Carlton Reserve, Bulgari Hotels & Resorts, Edition and JW Marriott brands.

Accor Hotels made a similar move, launching a luxury division after its acquisition of FRHI earlier this year, with Andrew Gibson heading up wellbeing for Accor Luxury.

Marriott is scheduled to open nearly 30 hotels in its luxury portfolio in 2017, and has a total of 180 luxury hotels in its development pipeline, representing 20 new countries – from Iceland to Nepal to Cuba.

“Spanning the world from the most iconic hot spots to the ultimate undiscovered gems, the unmatched breadth and depth of our luxury portfolio uniquely positions us to cater to the increased demand of the rapidly-expanding cadre of affluent travelers,” said Tina Edmundson, global brand officer for Marriott.

“With luxury travel up 50 per cent over the past five years, we see a long runway for growth at the high-end, and have a world-class, dedicated luxury structure in place to nurture and strengthen this coveted portfolio of eight diverse luxury brands.”