Starwood Hotels expands in New York City
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Inc has announced that it will grow its New York City portfolio by 50% this year and open more hotels in New York in 2010 than any other city in the world. Starwood operates 12 hotels in the Big Apple across six of its nine brands. The company’s NYC boom will result in 18 high-calibre Starwood hotels including the debut of Starwood’s two newest brands in Manhattan Aloft and Element.
In addition, Starwood’s growth in NYC will bring 500 new jobs to the area and 1,712 new hotel rooms.
“While nearly 80% of our future hotel pipeline is outside of the United States, we have more hotels in New York City than any city in the world and we will open more hotels right here in our backyard than anywhere else, which speaks to New York’s enduring stature as the most global gateway city in the world”, said Frits van Paasschen, CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts. “New York continues to be a beacon for international business and leisure travelers alike, and as we look to the future, we expect that as masses of travellers from China, India and other emerging markets begin to travel internationally, New York will be at the top of their list. We couldn’t be more bullish on New York near or long term.”
Over the past several months, Starwood’s NYC occupancy has continued to surpass last year’s levels: June occupancy averaged 86.4%, up 5% over last year at the same time. In addition, 45.25 million tourists visited in 2009, exceeding expectations by 7%. By 2012, New York City anticipates attracting 50 million visitors annually.
“In 2010, we will further diversify our strong portfolio in New York City by adding seven strategically located hotels, all backed by our powerful Starwood Preferred Guest programme”, said Denise Coll, president of North America division for Starwood Hotels and Resorts. “We have spent the past three years preparing for New York City’s economic recovery by working closely with our proven development partners on the right properties in the right places. As a result, we’re ready to meet the resurgence in demand for our high-quality lifestyle brands in neighbourhoods across the city.”
Starwood added that it is on track to open more than 80 hotels in key markets around the world this year.
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