Starwood Hotels Start New Ventures in India
The eminent international hospitality group Starwood Hotels & Resorts, as per its extension scheme, has big plans of investing in hotels operating under both pipeline and management contracts in India. The first-rate company aims to have 65 operational properties, to add to the already existing 39 hotels under six brands, including Luxury Collection, Westin, Sheraton, Le Meridien, Four Points, and Aloft. The new totality of 100 hotels is the target expected to be reached by the end of 2015, which the company wishes to add to its Indian portfolio.
Indian Starwood Hotels & Resorts Managing Director and Regional South Asian Vice President Dilip Puri has stated that investment will mainly be in the form of brand building, people training, technology, resources, and infrastructure, but did not provide an estimate of the proposed figures for investment.
The company isn’t interested to directly invest in real estate and plans to own and manage hotels through franchises or management models. It is involved with projects that facilitates opulent growth in Tier-I cities such as Delhi and Mumbai and Tier-II cities such as Agra and Tirupathi. The company also wishes to tap opportunities in micro markets within larger markets such as the tourism destinations of Goa and Bekal.
According to Puri, the Indian realty market is significant enough to undertake investment, as it is Starwood’s fourth-largest market and will soon become the third. Starwood has a knack for choosing the perfect location for hotels, as well as reliable brands that work for them. What is truly essential for Starwood’s success is the efficiency of local partners involved with the company. This will be easy to achieve for the prestigious company that owns 1200 properties in over 100 countries.
Source: Financial Chronicle
Aloft, Dilip Puri, HHC, Howard Hughes Corp, Le Meridien, Luxury brands, Luxury collection, Points, Sheraton, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide Inc, Westin
