tl;dr – He also tipped a new project about yet another safari property in Africa.
Marriott CEO Anthony Capuano recently sat down for an interview with Travel Weekly, discussing, amongst other things, the chain’s push into outdoor hospitality. A snippet from the conversation revealed some interesting tidbits about some potential future African properties that might be in the pipeline. In the past, I’ve written extensively about the myriad of opportunities to use loyalty points for African safari adventures. I’ve profiled a few properties of interest, such as Marriott’s Tribute Portfolio property – the Turaco Ngorongoro Valley Lodge
– as part of my Deal’s I’m Booking That You Should Too series, I even had the opportunity to visit Marriott’s property at Kruger National Park, Leopards Sands, shortly after it opened. As far as the major chains go, Marriott’s rushed out to quite a head start, for better or worse.
Rwanda Gorilla Trek Lodge in the Pipeline?
When asked about the future safari opportunities that are available to Marriott, Capuano responded with the following:
“And what we hear from our guests is, ‘What if you could cobble together multiple experiences?” For instance, we’re working hard to find an opportunity for a lodge near Volcanoes National Park in Rwanda, where you can go gorilla trekking. So, imagine you could fly into Kigali, you spend a night at the Marriott there, then you go up to a safari lodge, you do the gorilla trek, then you come back down, you fly to the Mara, you go to the JW Marriott or The Ritz-Carlton Masai Mara [Safari Camp]. You could also add a trip to a Tanzanian project we’re working on with the world’s largest black rhino preserve. And then you could pivot to India, where there are some opportunities in some of the tiger preserves for lodges.”
Interesting.
So first off, the cobbling together of experiences is a sensible idea – it’s one that I’ve been loosely planning myself as a way to check out some of Marriott’s other existing properties in the region. It’s good to hear that leadership is looking at their portfolio from a regional perspective getting out to those parts of Africa can be a journey for many folks. If it works for your situation, why not check out a few spots while you’re there?
Secondly, this feels like it’s real. He references the existing Kigali Marriott, and ‘working hard to find an opportunity for a lodge’ sounds just like the playbook for the physical-asset-light-long-term-agreement-soft-brand-heavy Marriott. I could totally see Marriott welcoming an upscale mountain lodge on the Gorilla Trek property to its Autograph or Luxury Collection. Capuano also references finding ways to cater more to ultra-luxury travelers with Marriott’s existing ultra-premium brands. Excursions to see the gorillas in Rwanda can be super expensive, so I always wouldn’t be surprised if Marriott signed a super high-end boutique property to its premier luxury brand, the Ritz-Carlton Reserve.
JW Marriott Serengeti Scrapped or Still On?
The other interesting part of Capuano’s statement is the piece about the ‘Tanzanian project we’re working on with the world’s largest black rhino preserve.’ Initially, I thought this was a nod to a longstanding mystery I’ve wondered about – the status of the mysterious JW Marriott Serengeti property first announced back in 2023. However, the “world’s largest black rhino preserve” Capuano references is almost certainly the Mkomazi Rhino Sanctuary in Northeast Tanzania, a solid 9-hour drive away from Serengeti National Park, so his statement would seem to hint at yet another new safari property. The fact that the JW Marriott Serengeti hasn’t received a public update yet, coupled with Marriott’s recent debut of Mapito Safari Camp (in the Serengeti) to its Autograph Collection, raised some doubts as to whether the JW was still happening. I feel like it is, but I guess time will tell.
Partnering with a sanctuary that puts an emphasis on conservation and sustainability seems to be an example of ‘lessons learned’ for Marriott. While there have been environmental and sustainability concerns with Marriott’s new Ritz-Carlton and a few-year-old JW Marriott properties in the Masai Mara, the chain appears to have taken a more cautious approach with its upcoming JW property further north in Kenya, the Mount Kenya Rhino Reserve at the Solio Game Reserve.
