The hotel building boom in China continues undiminished. Luxury hotel operator Starwood Hotels and Resorts plans to add 70 new properties in China in the next three years.

Oliver Bonke, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Starwood Asia-Pacific and seen in our illustration, said the Chinese hotels will make up the bulk of the 100 to be added across the Asia-Pacific region.

He said, ‘China will get more Starwood hotels than any other countries in the world.’

Oliver Bonke was in China recently signing hotel deals. The group now operates 40 hotels in the country.

Starwood has signed contracts for two Shanghai hotels and for a Westin and a St Regis hotel in Jiangsu provincial capital Nanjing.
That brings to 13 the number of hotel deals Starwood has signed in the first 11 weeks of the year. Last year, it added 50 new hotels in the country.

The hotel operator plans to open 15 new hotels in China this year. Its Aloft hotel, a limited service version of the W brand, is also expected to open in Beijing this year ahead of the Olympic Games in August. Five W hotels are planned for China.

Starwood owns eight brands including Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Westin, St Regis, Le Meridien, Aloft and W.
Source: China Daily

Opening in 2011, the St. Regis Hotel Tianjin will have 284 rooms, more than 20,000 square feet of meeting space, six restaurants, a spa and pool. So it is a MICE hotel being eminently suitable for meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions but there is a fair amount of leisure thrown in there as well. St. Regis is a high end Starwood brand.

Tianjin is one of China’s fastest growing coastal cities. It will be St. Regis’ third hotel in China with the first two being in Beijing and Shanghai. There are plans to add a property in Tibet.

All of this is part of the upward parabola of Starwood. The company announced in June that it expected to sign about 200 new deals and open more than 80 new hotels this year, almost double the properties it opened in 2006. Much of its focus has been on the upscale and luxury markets, with much of the growth planned outside North America.

The company has also been expanding its W luxury brand overseas. Our illustration is of the St. Regis in Shanghai but it gives you and idea of the style and elegance.
Source: CPN