starwood-hotels

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, which owns brands like Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien, W Hotels and Luxury Collection, signs up on average a property a week. Last year, it beat its record by signing up 72. In India, Starwood has an ambitious target of 100 hotels by 2015. Hoyt Harper, senior VP-brand management in Sheraton Hotels and Resorts, talks to TOI about Starwood’s roadmap for India. You have brands across categories. How do you plan to introduce them in India? We have 9 distinct brands. The beauty of what we offer is different brands for each travel occasion at different price points. Sheraton is usually our trailblazing brand if I can make a comparison to what we are able to accomplish in China. We started with Sheraton and grew our footprint because of the brand. As we had a strong foothold in the market , we were able to bring in Westin, Four Points by Sheraton and W. When I look at India, Sheraton will help us build a base and create opportunities to grow Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft brands. We are getting ready to open W in India by 2013. We have 34 properties as we speak and we are on target to achieve 50 properties by 2012. We have planned to have 100 hotels , either under development, in operation or contracted by 2015. How does India compare with China for Starwood? India and China are the fastest growing markets in Asia. The only thing common between the two countries is their population . We don’t compare the two in terms of numbers. You may say that Starwood has a robust pipeline with 150 hotels in China and why does India only have 50? Being in the kind of business we are in, we see challenges in the cost of land, real estate and lifestyle . That’s why it is difficult to compare the pace of growth in India with China. But the biggest advantage in India is its English speaking population. For some eight years, it was a challenge to find the right kind of talent in China, but it’s rapidly changing now. Going forward, we will be in a better position to attract more talent to the hospitality industry. Do you think being asset light gives you better leverage compared to hospitality brands that own hotels? We continue to go asset light as we are putting more money on our brands. We make distinctions by categories. We may consider the ownership model if we find right partners with the right capabilities . We don’t franchise W or Westin, but we had two Meridiens franchised. Except for Four Points and Aloft, we don’t franchise any other brand. Going forward , we are going to manage all the upper upscale five-star brands. Unlike our competitors, we don’t have to carry the baggage of any brand into another brand’s positioning. The beauty is they can be positioned independently without getting diluted by any other brand.