Having doubled its footprint in the last three years, Starwood Hotels & Resorts will open 20 new hotels in China in 2013. Starwood currently has 120 hotels operating in China, with 100 more in the pipeline, making China the company’s second largest hotel market behind the United States. Starwood President and CEO, Frits van Paasschen, said the company will open one new hotel every 20 days in China and that 70% of its pipeline of new hotels under construction are in second and third tier cities.
Starwood’s presence in China dates back to 1985 when the Sheraton Great Wall Beijing debuted as the first international hotel in the People’s Republic of China. Today Starwood is the largest high-end hotel operator in China with more hotels here than competitors Marriott, Hilton and Hyatt combined. In 2012 Starwood opened 25 hotels and signed 36 new hotel deals – a record number of openings and deals. www.starwoodhotels.com
