WITH new developments and several projects in the pipeline, Starwood Hotels & Resorts has announced ambitious plans to reach 200 properties by 2015.
Paul James, global brand leader, St Regis Hotels & Resorts, The Luxury Collection and W Hotels Worldwide, shared the company’s announcements and also shared valuable insight on the luxury travel industry during the recently-held International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM) in Cannes, France.
With more than 160 luxury hotels in nearly 40 countries operating under the W, St Regis and The Luxury Collection brands, Starwood is one of the most global luxury hospitality companies today with growth spread across geographies.
James explains: “We are a relatively young hotel group, offering a unique lifestyle proposition for each brand. W focuses on music, fashion and design and aims to cater for the ‘what’s new, what’s next generation’, St Regis is premium luxury and focuses on the sophisticated international traveller of the next generation and The luxury Collection aims to give the traveller an indigenous experience. We have grown from about 30 properties in 2006 to 165 now and aim to reach 200 by 2015.”
In the last five years, Starwood has almost doubled its luxury room count to meet growing global demand. The company’s robust pipeline over the next five years will add 50 luxury hotels to its global portfolio. In China, the company will add another 12 new luxury hotels in the next two years, including W Beijing, The St Regis Lijiang and Luxury Collection hotels in Hangzhou and Suzhou.
W Hotels Worldwide celebrates 15 years of W innovation since it opened its first hotel in New York City in 1998. With 45 hotels and retreats around the world, the contemporary, design-led brand is on track to reach 60 hotels by 2017. Following the brand’s debut in mainland China with W Guangzhou earlier this year, W Hotels launched its first alpine and ski retreat, W Verbier, in Switzerland, on December 1, 2013.
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Hemingway Presidential Suite at The Gritti Palace in Venice, a Luxury Collection Hotel |
The Luxury Collection is set to surpass 100 hotels in the next five years with upcoming openings in new destinations in 2014 such as Odessa in Ukraine, Dalian in China as well as Ajman in the UAE with the opening of Ajman Saray resort on February 1. Following an investment of more than $200 million to restore some of the company’s most-celebrated Luxury Collection hotels in Europe, including the historic Gritti Palace in Venice and Prince de Galles in Paris which re-opened earlier this year, Starwood and its owner partners continue to invest in the Luxury Collection portfolio in destinations such as Greece, Vienna and Costa Smeralda.
St Regis Hotels & Resorts has more than doubled its global footprint in the last five years to 31 hotels, solidifying its position as a leader in luxury hospitality – with another 12 hotels in the pipeline. The debut of The St Regis Abu Dhabi in August marked the brand’s third hotel in the Middle East following its entry into the region in 2011. The brand also recently unveiled a new era of glamour at its flagship hotel in New York following a comprehensive $90-million renovation. The St Regis brand is set to extend its legacy around the world in new destinations such as Dubai, Amman and Riviera Maya, as well as new openings in Istanbul and Kuala Lumpur in 2014.
In terms of its key source markets, the group expects business from Europe to return. James says: “The core European, African and Middle East business is strong and growing. Also our hotels in the Indian Ocean islands of Mauritius and Maldives are doing very well. Business in the Americas also looks strong as well as China, where the group plans to open around 140 hotels by 2016. So, globally things are going very well.
“We are planning for two properties in Dubai, one on Sheikh Zayed Road and the other on Palm Jumeirah. The plan is for Westin, W and St Regis to be brought around a theatre / auditorium venue and is being driven by the Habtoor group,” says James. “Dubai winning the Expo 2020 is fantastic news for the group. In 2013, for six weeks, Dubai was the corporate headquarters for the group – a tradition followed by the Starwood CEO where it shifts base from its headquarters in New York, rotating among the group’s main global centres every year. Dubai is the yardstick for the group to gauge the world traveller, and along with Abu Dhabi, one of the top five sources of business. The challenge would be to cater to the demand for 2020 and the flip it after the event.”
The main destinations for the Middle East traveller have been London, New York, Paris and Geneva and the summer business has been very strong. New York has Premium and Suite business coming from the Middle East especially the UAE.
The group has engaged in a five-year project to find new properties. In the meanwhile, its main near-term focus will be on sub-Saharan Africa and Brazil.
At ILTM, James spoke about the focus on a new generation of luxury travellers and how Starwood is catering to them with two presentations – Global Wealth and the Kingdom of Me. “Luxury has become ultra-personalised for the discerning traveler. We are trying to cater to this demand by utilising technology. For example, we are piloting a prep programme where the customer can state his preferences like how far the room can be from the lift, low or high floor, mattress preference and allergy information so his stay can be pre-arranged to match his requirements. This saves a lot of time at the time of check-in and fulfils the needs of the guest. Traveller preferences have changed. It’s a highly individual, highly instinctive and demanding customer that we have today and we use a mix of art and science platforms to fulfil their needs.”