Home / NEWS / Owners & Operators / W, St Regis is Starwood's new Indian focus

Nikhil Manchharam, vice president, acquisitions and development, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is now on focussing on introducing its luxury brands the W and St Regis, into India. Both the brands are poised to enter the cities of Mumbai, Bengaluru and New Delhi. “It is still on the drawing board, but Mumbai becomes our immediate focus. Our strategy is basically to penetrate into the primary markets where the brands are not represented yet,” said Nikhil Manchharam, vice president, acquisitions and development, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels and Resorts.

Starwood is also looking at emerging Tier II cities such as Coimbatore. Further, Manchharam thinks that Gujarat has potential that is untapped, so does Himachal Pradesh, and markets like Guwahati. “With the regulatory environment becoming conducive to tourists, that should go a long way in getting business, although Vadodara and Ahmedabad are a bit saturated, while access is the issue to a region like Bhuj. Coimbatore is certainly a market that’s emerging, and I think Kerala has a lot of potential for the resort end of the market, we are looking at upscale and luxury here,” he added.

Starwood is also considering Maharashtra's hill stations of Lonavla and Mahableshwar for its Le Meridien, which hitherto operated pretty much on the traditional mom-and-pop hotel models. “We’re trying to establish domestic markets; a lot of this will be backed by domestic tourists travelling across India, which has not been there before. Rajasthan is one market that could see leisure business as a good driver; Udaipur has great potential,” he said.

Advertisement

COMMENT   Could you please inform me Approx when and when will be the opening in Mumbai?   1 Comments Read more comments »