With a strong and fast growing footprint and a robust pipeline, Starwood Hotels & Resorts consolidates its position as the largest international operator in the luxury/upper upscale segment in India. Starwood currently operates 34 hotels in India with 26 hotels in the pipeline. 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. The Group forayed into the Indian market in 1973.
In 2012, Starwood signed 10 new deals and will open 5-6 hotels in 2013 with the opening of Westin Chennai Velachery, Aloft Ahmedabad SG Road and Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Park, Le Méridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa and Sheraton Chandigarh.
“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 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, tier 2 markets as well as in resort destinations,” said Stephen Ho, President Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts.
Continues momentum to expand Upper Upscale brands in gateway cities
Rising wealth is helping to 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 NCR and gateway markets with the signing of Sheraton Grand Venezia Greater Noida, Sheraton Whitefield Bangalore, Le Meridien Delhi NCR Noida and Westin Delhi NCR Noida. “The success of the Westin brandin India as well as the first newly built managed Sheraton , Sheraton Bangalore Hotel at Brigade Gateway has propelled the expansion of these brands into key markets gaining traction with the development community,” said Dilip Puri , Managing Director India and Regional Vice President South Asia. Le Meridien brand will see a reenergized portfolio with the renovation of Le Meridien Bangalore, Le Meridien Jaipur and Le Meridien Kochi.
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 doubled its luxury room count to meet growing global demand for luxury travel. “We have over 150 luxury hotels under our St. Regis, Luxury Collection and W brands, which is the largest luxury footprint in the world – nearly as big as Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton combined. Over 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 all 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 all of which will be highly anticipated additions to Starwood’s luxury portfolio. St. Regis will make its debut into India with the opening of The St. Regis Noida, Delhi NCR in 2016.These brands have already begun to resonate with the Indian luxury traveler. W London was awarded the Favorite New Opening International Hotel by the Conde Nast Traveler Reader’s Choice Award last year and this year St Regis Bangkok won the award in this coveted category.
Actively Pursues expansion of Resort portfolio
Starwood Hotels and Resorts is now looking at strengthening its resort portfolio with the opening of Le Meridien Mahabaleshwar Resort & Spa later this year.Starwood recently signedWestin Bekal Resort & Spa in God’s own country and already has WestinKhandala Resort & Spa and Le Meridien Chennai East Coast Resort & Spa under development besides the W Retreat & Spa Goa.
“Starwood has a rich resort portfolio in Asia Pacific with well known resorts in destinations like KohSamui, Phuket, Langkawi, Bali under various luxury and Upper Upscale brands. We have seen a lot of outbound travel from India to these destinations. 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 that offer a huge potential for resort development. As demand for domestic leisure travel increases, we believe there will be an increased demand for quality hotels in these locations. Our compelling portfolio of lifestyle brands provides developers the choice to identify the right brand for the right location and our experience in managing quality resorts gives us the opportunity to be the preferred partners for developers” said Nikhil Manchharam , Vice President Acquisitions and Development South Asia Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts
Targets a robust Select Services portfolio
Starwood is also looking to “turbo charge” expansion of its Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft brands setting its sights on expanding its mid-market brands in tier 2 markets and in micro markets within larger markets. Starwood is now shifting its focus to Tier 2 cities with hotels currently open and under development in cities like Coimbatore, Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Mysore, and Amritsar. Starwood is also venturing into micro markets such as Faridabad, Noida, Gurgaon with its Select service brands like Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft.
“We believe in the opportunities that lie in tier 2 markets and are of the opinion that new hotels in new markets create their own demand. As cities evolve and the urban Indian landscape continues to undergo a transformation, tier 2 markets will provide opportunities for both Upper Upscale and for Select Services brands,” said Dilip Puri, Managing Director India and Regional Vice President, South Asia.
Entering new markets
Starwood Hotels and Resorts consolidates position in Bangladesh with signing of Le Meridien Dhaka and the re-entry of Sheraton in Dhaka. Starwood will make its foray into new markets like Sri Lanka with Four Points by Sheraton Colombo and Sheraton in Colombo.
“Given the political stability in the region, South Asia has emerged as the second fastest growing market for inbound tourist arrivals. This we believe provides for many opportunities for development of internationally branded hotels across segments. We arenow exploring opportunities to enter Nepal and Bhutan and strengthen footprint in the Maldives,”said Nikhil Manchharam , Vice President ,Acquisitions and Development South Asia Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts
Investments to support growth
Starwood Preferred Guest better known as SPG, the Hotel group’s award winning loyalty program has already seen an exponential growth in its India member database and today one out of every two guests at Starwood Hotels in India is an SPG member. “We continue to relentlessly leverage SPG to increase 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. The changes we’ve made to SPG are next to impossible for our competitors to copy. We havemoved 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 Condenast traveller Reader’s Choice Travel Awards two years in a row as the Favourite 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 and strengthened Starwood Sales Organization and continued investment in marketing its brands in 2012, a momentum it will continue to maintain in 2013.
Starwood opened its 9th global Customer Contact Center 18 months ago in Gurgaon as an outsourced operation run by a third party. Effective Jan 7, 2013, 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 the 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. All this will position us well for greater success in the future. Running our own call center is a reiteration of the belief that we have in the region and our commitment to support the aggressive expansion plans,” said Patricia Neo, Senior Director, Customer Contact Centres, Asia Pacific, for Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
