PT Pollux Hotels Group Tbk has forged two separate strategic partnerships with leading international hotel groups within the space of two months. On 23 June 2026, the Indonesian operator signed a memorandum of understanding with Accor in Jakarta. Then, on 14 August 2026, it announced a new cooperation agreement, this time with Marriott International.
Accor: the first step in a diversified development strategy
The first signing ceremony took place on Tuesday 23 June 2026 at the World Capital Tower in Mega Kuningan, Jakarta, in the presence of Handojo Koentoro Setyadi, President Director of Pollux Hotels Group, Andrew Langdon, Chief Development Officer Asia at Accor, and Rio Kondo, Independent Commissioner Development Indonesia at Accor. The agreement combines Accor’s global distribution network and operational expertise with Pollux’s portfolio development capabilities, with the aim of broadening access to international markets and supporting the sustainable development of Indonesia’s tourism sector.
“Today marks the beginning of a collaboration that we are confident will have a significant positive impact, not only for our two companies, but also for the development of the Indonesian hospitality and tourism sector as a whole”, Handojo Koentoro Setyadi said at the close of the ceremony. He went on to explain that Accor, present in Indonesia for more than thirty years, was fully aligned with the operational standards and distribution network that Pollux was seeking to support its development.
Marriott International: a second partnership to widen market coverage
Less than two months later, on 14 August 2026, Pollux Hotels Group announced a further strategic cooperation, this time with Marriott International. Handojo Koentoro Setyadi again highlighted the complementary strengths of the two organisations. “Our group has been managing hotels for a long time and has a very strong understanding of the local market and the Indonesian market,” he said, adding that Marriott International’s presence in Indonesia is no longer in question.
Marriott International’s Vice President of Hotel Development for Asia Pacific, Ivan Widarmana, placed Indonesia among the priority markets in the US group’s regional strategy. “In 2013, when I joined the development team, we had 32 hotels. Today we have 88,” he said, a rate of growth that illustrates Marriott’s rising presence in the archipelago since it entered the market in 1991.
Growth extending beyond the major metropolitan centres
Both partnerships share the same geographic ambition: not to be confined to Indonesia’s established tourist destinations of Bali and Jakarta. Pollux says it is also targeting areas driven by industrial growth, such as several cities in Central Java including Semarang, Batang and Kendal, where the establishment of foreign production sites is fuelling hotel demand linked to business travel.
Ivan Widarmana confirmed the same logic on Marriott’s side, with the US group also identifying opportunities in the country’s second- and third-tier cities beyond the major urban centres alone. This approach mirrors a broader trend seen across Southeast Asia, where Accor is also stepping up strategic partnerships in India, Thailand and Vietnam to expand its regional portfolio.
🔗 Also on LTH: Accor signs the Satori Resort – Handwritten Collection in Bali, Indonesia
Local training and sustainability: cross-cutting priorities in both agreements
Beyond the expansion of their hotel portfolios, both partnerships place emphasis on shared priorities. On the Accor side, Handojo Koentoro Setyadi underlined the growing importance of environmental criteria in travellers’ booking decisions, with sustainability becoming, in his view, a prerequisite rather than simply a differentiating advantage. On the Marriott side, the executive stressed his group’s attention to local employment since its founding. “From day one, we have paid very close attention to local human resources, because we are not just managing hotels,”
