Starwood launches Aloft in India

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has launched its Aloft brand with the opening of two Aloft hotels in India -- the first in Chennai and the second in Bangalore.

Auromatrix Hotels through its Urbanedge Hotels plan to open several Aloft hotels in India over the next several years. Starwood’s Aloft hotel brand debuted in June 2008 and now has 40 locations worldwide.

Aloft features large guest rooms, a lobby bar scene, an urban-inspired, grab-and go café and industrial design elements throughout.

Each guest loft is also a combination high-tech office and entertainment center, featuring free wireless Internet access and plug and play, a one-stop connectivity solution for multiple electronic gadgetry such as PDAs, cell phones, mp3 players and laptops -- all linked to a large flat panel HDTV ready television.

Starwood has labelled Aloft as a “tech-savvy brand” and said that India, as “a young, tech-driven society” will become a key market for the Aloft brand’s development outside of the United States.

The Aloft Chennai OMR-IT Expressway features 130 rooms, over 5,000 square feet of meeting space and a restaurant. Aloft Bengaluru Whitefield in Bangalore has 170 rooms, 8,500 square feet of meeting space and a restaurant.

With more than 40 hotels open in the 18 months since Aloft was launched and 10 more opening in 2010, Aloft can be found everywhere from Abu Dhabi and Baltimore to Dallas and Beijing.