It
aims to have 100 hotels under operation, development and management
contracts signed by 2015 with eight out of nine Starwood brands
flying their flag in India.
In
the past year Starwood signed 10 new deals in India, Bangladesh and
Sri Lanka. The company will open The Westin Chennai Velachery, Aloft
Ahmedabad SG Road and Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Business Park, Le
Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa and
Sheraton Chandigarh Hotel
in 2013.
“Already
our fourth largest market, India is comfortably poised to be second
only to China in terms of our future global growth. India today is
still an ‘under-hoteled’ market, and the demand for high-caliber
lodging is expected to far exceed current supply for at least the
next three to four years. As domestic travel increases and Indian
travelers continue to demand more sophistication in terms of both
quality and experience, we have significant opportunity to grow our
brands across the spectrum in gateway cities, tertiary markets as
well as in resort destinations,”
said Stephen Ho, President Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
Continued
momentum expanding Upper Upscale brands in gateway cities
Rising
wealth is helping drive demand for Starwood's Upper Upscale and
Luxury brands. Starwood is growing its upper upscale brands like
Sheraton, Westin and Le Meridien further into Delhi National Capital
Region (NCR) and gateway markets with the signing of Sheraton Greater
Noida Hotel, Sheraton Bengaluru Whitefield Hotel & Convention
Center, Le Méridien Delhi NCR, Noida and The Westin Delhi NCR Noida.
Le Méridien brand will see a reenergized portfolio with
the renovations of
Le Méridien Bangalore, Le Méridien Jaipur and Le Méridien Kochi.
“The
success of the Westin brand in India as well as the newly built and
managed Sheraton, Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway, has
propelled the expansion of these brands into key markets and we are
seeing increased traction with the development community,” said
Dilip Puri, Managing
Director India
and Regional Vice President South Asia.
Debut
of Luxury brands W and St Regis
Today
more people than ever are entering the ranks of the very wealthy and
developing a taste for luxury. In the last five years, Starwood has
nearly doubled its luxury
room count to meet growing global demand for
luxury travel.
“We
have one of the leading luxury footprints in the world with more than
150 luxury hotels under our St. Regis, Luxury Collection and W Hotels
brands. More than 90% of our luxury pipeline is in emerging markets,
reflecting new demand for luxury in new places. With a rising middle
class, growing disposable income, an affinity for luxury brands and
huge pent up demand for foreign travel, India is emblematic of the
growth we are seeing in regions around the world and key to our
global growth plans,” said Matthew Fry, Senior Vice President,
Acquisitions and Development, Starwood Asia Pacific.
Starwood
Hotels and Resorts is geared up to bring its world-renowned luxury
brands St Regis and W Hotels
to India. The W brand will arrive in India in
2014 with the opening of the W Retreat & Spa Goa followed by the
W Mumbai, W Noida-Delhi NCR and W Gurgaon WTC, Delhi-NCR all of which
are highly anticipated additions to
Starwood’s luxury portfolio. St. Regis will make its debut in India
with the opening of The St. Regis Noida, Delhi NCR in 2017. These
brands have a strong following around the world, including among
Indian luxury travelers. W London was awarded the ‘Favorite New
Opening International Hotel’ by the Conde
Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Award last
year, and this year The St. Regis Bangkok won the award in this
coveted category.
Actively
Pursues expansion of Resort portfolio
Starwood
Hotels and Resorts seeks to expand its resort portfolio with the
opening of Le Meridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa later this year
and will double its resort room count in India by the end of 2014.
Starwood recently signed The Westin Bekal Resort & Spa in the
state of Kerala and already has The Westin Khandala Resort & Spa
and Le Meridien Chennai East Coast Resort & Spa under development
besides the W Retreat & Spa Goa.
Nikhil
Manchharam, Starwood’s Vice President Acquisitions and Development
in South Asia, said: “Starwood has a rich resort portfolio in Asia
Pacific with well- known resorts in destinations like Koh
Samui, Phuket,
Langkawi, and Bali under various luxury and Upper Upscale brands, and
we have seen a lot of outbound travel from India to
thesedestinations. In South Asia Starwood already manages well
established resorts, including The Westin Sohna Resort & Spa and
the W and Sheraton in Maldives. India is a land of many
unexplored destinations with huge potential for resort
development and, as demand for domestic leisure travel increases, we
believe there will be increased demand for quality
hotels in these locations.”
Mr.
Manchharam added: “Our compelling portfolio of lifestyle brands
provides developers the choice to identify the right brand for the
right location. Our experience in managing quality resorts gives us
the opportunity to be the preferred partners for developers.”
Targets
a robust Select Services portfolio
Starwood
is looking to accelerate the expansion of its Four Points by Sheraton
and Aloft brands setting its sights on expanding its mid-market
brands. Starwood is focused on tier 2 cities with hotels currently
open and under development such as Coimbatore, Chandigarh,
Ahmedabad, Mysore, and Amritsar. Starwood is also venturing into
micro markets such as Faridabad, Noida, and Gurgaon.
“We
believe in the opportunities tier 2 markets provide and have seen
that new hotels in new markets create their own demand. As cities
evolve and the urban Indian landscape continues to transform, tier 2
markets will provide opportunities for both Upper Upscale and for
Mid-Market brands,” said Mr. Puri.
Entering
new markets
Starwood
Hotels and Resorts expanded its leadership position in Bangladesh
with the signing of Le Meridien Dhaka and the re-entry of Sheraton in
Dhaka. Starwood will also make its foray into new markets like Sri
Lanka with Four Points by Sheraton Colombo and Sheraton in Colombo,
International Airport and Sheraton Colombo Hotel in Colombo.
“Given
the political stability in the region, South Asia has emerged as the
second fastest growing market for inbound tourist arrivals, providing
many opportunities for development of internationally branded hotels
across segments. We are continuing to explore opportunities to enter
Nepal and Bhutan and strengthen our footprint in the Maldives,”
added Mr. Manchharam.
Investments
to support growth
Starwood
Preferred Guest, the company’s award-winning loyalty program,
better known as ‘SPG,’ has already seen an exponential growth in
its India membership and today one out of every two guests at
Starwood’s hotels in India is an SPG member.
“We
continue to relentlessly leverage SPG, increasing loyalty to our
brands by offering more choice, recognition and services to our
highest-value guests. Loyalty is a powerful insurance policy in tough
times, and the changes we’ve made to SPG are next to impossible for
our competitors to copy. We have moved beyond the ‘points and
perks’ arms race to introduce personal services that drive ‘loyalty
beyond reason’ for our best guests. SPG has won top honors at
the Conde
Nast Traveller
Reader’s Choice Travel Awards two years in a row as the Favorite
Hotel Loyalty Program and continues to be key to our India growth
strategy,” said Nelli Yong, Vice President, Brand Marketing,
Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts.
To
support its growth in the region Starwood has made a strong
commitment with an enhanced Starwood Sales Organization and continued
investment in marketing its brands.
Starwood
opened its ninth global Customer Contact Center 18 months ago in
Gurgaon as an outsourced operation run by a third party. This month,
Starwood assumed full and complete responsibility for its CCC
operations in India. The new CCC is located next to the Starwood
India Regional Office at the Vatika Business Park, Gurgaon. This
change is the result of a comprehensive review of the organization’s
long term strategic plan and how the CCC can better support upcoming
initiatives as well as growth in South Asia.
“Over
the past 18 months, we have gained deep and broad insights into local
customer behaviors and preferences and learned how to navigate in the
highly developed and competitive call center/BPO industry in India.
Our operations have also developed strong partnerships with our
hotels in the region and have been working collaboratively to
increase sales and build customer loyalty. These actions will
position us well for greater success and reinforce Starwood’s
commitment to support aggressive expansion plans in the region,”
said Patricia Neo, Vice President, Customer Contact Centres, Asia
Pacific, for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
