Starwood heads to the Far-East

Like a well-practiced archer, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has strung their bow and shot a perfect bull’s-eye in pinpointing the world’s next great hospitality market. China, one of the world’s most rapidly expanding economies, is where Starwood has decided to take their latest expansion initiative with a goal of 100 hotels by 2012.

This week, Starwood made the announcement that 7 new hotels would be opening in the country during the summer, which would bring the current number of Starwood properties in China to 42. Starwood even recently moved their global Headquarters to Shanghai, China.

The reason for all the fuss over the country? , First , there is the fact that China has the second largest economy in the world, yet is not nearly as saturated by the high-end hospitality industry as the United States and are actually expanding faster than the American economy. Then there is the fact that China in itself is producing Starwood customers at a breakneck pace. Last year there was a 71% increase in Starwood preferred customers in China.

Of their multiple international brands, Sheraton will be the most commonly developed. Of the planned 100 hotels with about half of the new construction will be Sheraton. For more information check out this full article about Starwood’s Asian expansion.