Hyd: Marriott International to set up its first GCC in India

Hyderabad:  Hospitality giant Marriott International Inc has choosen Hyderabad for its First Global Capability Centre (GCC) in India.

This marks a significant milestone as it is the first-ever GCC in the hospitality sector to enter the Indian market, the company said in a release here on Thursday evening.

The new Marriott Tech Accelerator will leverage Hyderabad’s exceptional tech talent to enhance Marriott’s technology infrastructure, engineering capacity, and security capabilities across its global operations.

Marriott will begin its GCC fullscale operations set to commence by Q1 2025.

The GCC was announced by Marriott’s top brass including Executive Vice President and Chief Revenue & Technology Officer Drew Pinto, Global Chief Technology Officer Naveen Manga, Chief Sales & Marketing Officer, Asia Pacific (excluding China) John Toomey , VP – Technology Business Management Greg Martell, Vice President of IT Operations, Asia Pacific (excluding China)Ashish Kale , Chief Transformation Officer Alexander Pyhan andSenior Area Director of IT Operations, South Asia Mansur Baig during a meeting with Telangana IT and Industries Minister Duddila Sridhar Babu at state Secretariat here.

Speaking on the occasion, the Minister urged the Marriott leadership team to explore opportunities in opening hotels and establishing tech accelerator centers in tier-2 cities across Telangana, which would further bolster the state’s economic growth and decentralise development.

The Marriott team assured the minister that they would consider this proposition.

The upcoming 200-acre AI City will further solidify the state’s position in India’s deep tech talent ecosystem. “Telangana has emerged as a global tech leader with over 200 GCCs driving business transformation.

Our talent pool includes over 1 million GCC-ready tech professionals and 350,000 AI and Chip designers, with an annual influx of 250,000 engineers,” said Sridhar Babu.

“This new GCC advances our vision of making Telangana a global hub for AI, Data Science, and IIoT. We thank Marriott International for choosing Telangana for their global tech center, reinforcing our position as a technology leader,” the Minister added.

Drew Pinto said that “We have chosen to establish the Marriott Tech Accelerator in Hyderabad, India, because of its world-class talent and strong reputation as a major IT hub in India.”

“We appreciate the close collaboration with the Telangana government on this project and look forward to expanding our best-in-class technology workforce.”

“Our new Global Capability Centre reflects our dedication to drive technology innovation and business excellence,” said Naveen Manga.

“As Telangana becomes a global technology hub, this center will enhance customer experiences and reinforce our position as leaders in delivering cutting-edge solutions to empower our global operations to thrive in the digital age.” “We are tremendously proud of our 25 years of doing business in India,” said Ranju Alex.

“ We are committed to continued growth in India, with over 80 properties in the development pipeline.” The Marriott Tech Accelerator is expected to open in early 2025 and will be supported by ANSR, a leader in establishing and operating GCCs for global enterprises, he added.