Starwood Hotels Hits 200th Hotel Milestone in Asia Pacific
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Starwood Hotels Hits 200th Hotel Milestone in Asia Pacific
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Category: Asia Pacific - Industry economy
- Hotel projects
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2011-11-15
Global Hospitality Giant Widens Lead as Asia’s Largest Operator of Four and Five Star Hotels with a Flurry of New Openings in October and November
Powering ahead in Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) today announced it has surpassed the 200th hotel milestone with a flurry of recent openings in China, India, Thailand and Malaysia. Starwood continues to widen its lead as the largest operator of four and five star hotels in Asia Pacific with plans to reach over 320 hotels by 2014.
“The opening of our 200th hotel in Asia Pacific underscores the vitality of this market and its importance to our future growth,” said Frits van Paasschen, President & CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. “Demand for our high-caliber brands continues to soar across Asia’s many dynamic markets, driven by phenomenal economic growth and significant increases in outbound travel, particularly from China and India.”
Asia Pacific is Home to Starwood’s Highest, Largest and Tallest Hotels
Starwood’s diverse portfolio in Asia boasts several record-setting properties including its highest, largest and tallest hotels. The soon-to-open, 100-story St. Regis Shenzhen tops the charts at 441 meters. Starwood’s most highly elevated hotel is The St. Regis Lhasa, perched on the Tibetan Plateau, and its largest property is the nearly 4,000 room Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central located on the Cotai strip – the “Las Vegas” of Asia.
“In 2001, Starwood had around 80 hotels in all of Asia Pacific, just ten years later we are celebrating the opening of our 200th hotel,” said Miguel Ko, President, Starwood’s Asia Pacific Division. “Through the strength of our brands and our strong teams, we’ve more than doubled our footprint and added over 40,000 jobs to the region. Starwood’s momentum continues, we will open nearly 35 hotels in 2012 and welcome over 10,000 new associates to our team.”
Eye on China and India
China will play an outsized role in global travel within the next decade as one of the world’s fastest growing travel markets, with 100 million outbound travelers expected by 2015. Starwood now has 86 hotels open in China and nearly 100 more in development and expects to open one hotel in China every two weeks through the end of 2011. Nearly half of Starwood’s future hotels in China will fly the Sheraton flag, building on the brand’s 30-year legacy in the country, which has paved the way for robust growth across Starwood’s other world-class brands.
India is now Starwood’s fourth largest market and a close second to China in terms of future hotel development. Starwood now has more four and five star hotels than any other hotel company in India, where it expects to open its 50th hotel in 2013 and have 100 hotels either open or in development by 2015. Starwood also announced earlier in the year the signing of the first W in India – W Mumbai, followed by the recent signings of W Noida and W Goa Retreat. With the introduction of W Hotels as well as the entry of the first St. Regis in India with St. Regis Noida, eight of Starwood’s nine brands will fly their flags in India including W, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Le Méridien, Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft.
Trends Picking up in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia
Starwood is experiencing robust demand in many of Asia’s other fast-growing economies including Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia. Following the recent opening of Four Points by Sheraton Resort Langkawi, Starwood will grow 30% in Malaysia in the next three years with plans to open another four hotels including Four Points by Sheraton Sandakan, Sheraton Desaru Resort, The St. Regis Kuala Lumpur and W Kuala Lumpur.
In Indonesia, Starwood will add another four hotels by 2012 to its current portfolio of 12 properties. With the opening of Aloft Bangkok Sukhumvit 11, Thailand will be the first country in the South East Asia region to have eight out of nine Starwood brands. Today, Starwood has a robust footprint of 18 hotels in Thailand with another six openings planned by 2014.
About Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1071 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts.
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