One year after immersing its senior leadership for a month in China, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said it has signed deals to build 100 hotels there, doubling its footprint.
In June 2010, CEO Frits van Paasschen and other senior executives spent nearly a month in China to familiarize themselves with the market, which already is Starwood Hotels”™ second biggest after the United States. The company”™s China debut was in 1985 with The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel in Beijing.
This year Starwood Hotels has already opened 11 hotels in China and expects to open another 13 by year’s end. In Macao, a new Sheraton will be Starwood Hotels”™ largest yet with more than 3,860 rooms and a ballroom the size of 11 basketball courts.
“Although there have been concerns about the real estate sector in China, the pace of hotel signings and openings remains steady and strong, especially in tier-two and tier-three markets where we have been focused for the past few years,” said Vasant Prabhu, CFO of Starwood Hotels, in an April conference call with investment analysts.
