Starwood to nearly triple hotel count in India

Starwood Hotel and Resorts Worldwide is planning to nearly triple its hotel inventory in India to 100 properties by 2015-16, a senior executive of the company stated.

The company, which has 36 operational properties in India presently, will add another 64 properties in the next 2-3 years allowing itself to better tap in the growing opportunities in the upscale hospitality segment.
 
Starwood aims to close the year with 40 properties in India and add a further 10 hotels next year. The company claims to be the largest player in India in the four star and above category.
 

Vasant Prabhu, vice chairman and chief financial officer Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc, said, “In the next five years we will have most of our brands present in India. Though there is lack of adequate infrastructure to support hotel development, there is no dearth of demand”.

 
In India Starwood has presence through brands such as Westin, Le Meridien, Four Points, Aloft and Sheraton. Two more brands St.Regis and W will come up in the next couple of years.
 
Starwood operates only in the four star and above category and does not have any brand in the mid or budget segment. The international brand operates solely through management contracts in the country but is also talking to developers if however funding is required.
 
India is the fourth largest market for Starwood in the world and poised to be second only to China in terms of the company’s future global growth. With the city of Shanghai having more rooms than the sum total of India the country is witnessing a boom in new hotel development.

 
Starwood plans to operationalise its W brand in 2014-15 first in Goa with the W Retreat and Spa, Goa, followed by Mumbai, Noida and Gurgaon. St.Regis will make its debut in Noida in 2017.