Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. recently announced its Westin brand reached its 200-hotel milestone with the opening of The Westin Chongqing Liberation Square in China.
Adding to the Stamford-based hotelier’s global scope, three more are slated to open in China: The Westin Zhujiajian Resort in Zhoushan, The Westin Blue Bay Resort in Qingshui Bay and The Westin Haikou in Hainan. By the end of this year, Westin’s portfolio in China will have more than 20 hotels, according to a Starwood press release. In the next three years, Westin’s portfolio in China will increase by nearly 50 percent with the addition of 11 hotels, the company said.
This year, Starwood plans to open nine Westin hotels worldwide and another 30 by the end of 2016, with nearly half of those hotel openings taking place in the Asia-Pacific region, where the brand is growing the fastest.
The Westin brand has been met with “phenomenal demand” in China, said Simon Turner, president of global development for Starwood, in a statement.
“Emerging markets now account for nearly 70 percent of the Westin development pipeline, fueled by accelerating demand in China and India, where rising wealth and rapid urbanization have generated a fierce appetite for strong global brands,” Turner said.
