JW Marriott

MINT has filed a legal claim against Marriott International for THB 570,605,134 due to the actions in bad faith and has committed serious offenses under Thai law. Minor International Public Company Limited (MINT) stated that in obligation to keep stakeholders informed of material matters, the company has published an official statement of its legal claim against Marriott as follows; MINT, through its subsidiary MI Squared Limited, has filed a legal claim in Thai court against Marriott International, Inc. (Marriott) in relation to the JW Marriott Phuket Resort & Spa (the JW Marriott Phuket) which is owned by MINT and operated by Marriott’s subsidiary. MINT’s claim against Marriott is in the amount of THB 570,605,134. MINT claims that Marriott has acted in bad faith and has committed serious offenses under Thai law, including the following wrongful acts: 1) Actively and openly competing with the JW Marriott Phuket through its operation of competing Marriott portfolio hotels; 2) Using the facilities of the JW Marriott Phuket to promote Marriott’s other competing hotels; 3) Misappropriating MINT’s confidential and proprietary information to promote Marriott’s competing hotels and unlawfully benefit Marriott’s own interests at MINT’s expense; 4) Forcing the JW Marriott Phuket to accept high volumes of low margin business through Marriott’s loyalty program and operating its loyalty program in bad faith and in a manner contrary to the interest of MINT; 5) Failing to manage the JW Marriott Phuket in a manner to properly protect and benefit the owner’s interest, including implementing poor purchasing practices, allowing high staff turnover and making harmful sales/marketing decisions; and 6) Unduly enriching itself at the expense of the hotel and MINT, through non-transparent license fee arrangements, supplier rebates and use of monies in the Marriott loyalty program fund. Marriott has strenuously worked to avoid having to face these claims in Thai court, notwithstanding the fact that the hotel is located in Thailand, has a Thai owner and the claims against it are Thai law claims. Marriott sought intervention from a foreign arbitral body to halt the Thai court action against it but failed and had a final award issued against it in early July 2020. MINT looks forward to pursuing its claims against Marriott in Thai court and to seeking full damages and remedies available to it under Thai law. MINT also has a clear path forward to initiate new related legal action against a Marriott subsidiary, which it is actively exploring. MINT asserted that the Marriott group is facing a number of serious legal challenges at this time, including charges filed by US state attorneys general alleging “deceptive and misleading” pricing practices and suffering its second major data breach within the past three years (announced in January 2020 and compromising 5.2 million guest records). This is in addition to numerous claims brought against it by owners of hotels that are managed by Marriott and its affiliates. In addition, MINT stated that it is confident of success in its legal action against Marriott and will keep its stakeholders informed accordingly.