The world’s number 8 hotel operator, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, will open 49 hotels in 15 countries over the next three years. Hoyt Harper, Senior Vice President for Sheraton Hotels and Resorts said about 90 percent of the new hotels will be located outside of North America, including India, Taiwan, Poland, and 28 in China. Seventeen of the 28 Sheraton hotels planned for China will open in 2010. Harper said “We’re leaving no part of the world untouched.”
Over 40 percent of the new hotels will be under the banner of the Sheraton brand. This expansion of the Sheraton hotel chain has taken place in concert with over 40 different developers around the world and will cost about $4 billion (Dh14.7bn). Harper said developers working with Sheraton will be responsible for about 90 percent of this cost. Starwood has been revamping the Sheraton brand over the last three years, cutting loose 42 hotels because they did not meet brand standards.
