FOR the month of March, Starwood president and CEO Frits van Paasschen and his team of top executives relocated to Dubai to conduct day-to-day business. The move reflects the company’s innovative management approach to cultivating a more global culture by understanding, appreciating and leveraging different societal perspectives and approaches to business and hospitality. This is the second relocation of its kind for Starwood, following its relocation to China in June 2011.
Van Paasschen, who used his time in Dubai to visit each and every Starwood property said: “The Middle East is experiencing growth like never before. With rapid economic growth, strong global connectivity and a growing middle-class, I would say the Middle East region is on the steep part of the development curve today. So we are well past early beginnings but not yet at a place where the market is fully mature.
“An important thing about a time like this is first being very thoughtful about how to open and develop properties and staying true to our brands and understanding the decisions we make today – with the type of hotels we open and people we work with, will be with us for many years to come.”
Starwood has announced that it plans to grow its Middle East and Africa (MEA) portfolio by more than 60 per cent with nearly 50 new hotels set to open over the next five years, adding more than 14,000 guest rooms and creating thousands of local employment opportunities. With 82 operating hotels and over 20 hotels expected to open by the end of 2015, Starwood is on track to reach a milestone 100 hotels across MEA.
“Starwood continues to see demand for growth of all of our brands across MEA despite economic and political uncertainty in some parts of the region. When are take our brands to these markets, we look at what is likely to be the most financially successful. It’s a collaborative process between us and our owners.
Looking at the region, van Paasschen is very bullish about Saudi Arabia. “The UAE have been early and fast in their development, Qatar is well underway, Kuwait is a market we’ve been in for many years but Saudi Arabia has always had more plans than activity and this is changing.
“We are now seeing ground being broken, the new financial centre being built just outside Riyadh, the continued expansion of Jeddah, the revitalisation of the King Abdullah Economic City and – much more talk about second tier cities – that in my opinion is the growth story of tomorrow,” he said.
Starwood currently has plans for six new hotels slated to open by 2015 bringing Starwood’s portfolio to 15 hotels in the Kingdom.
Starwood is focused on expansion in developing MEA markets such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Algeria, Egypt, Senegal, South Africa, Iraq and Nigeria. The company is also focused on growth opportunities in key emerging markets including Iraq, Pakistan, Angola, Ghana, the Ivory Coast and East Africa.