Next Stop India for Starwood's Westin Brand

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has agreed to construct its first Westin hotel in India, a 300-room facility that will contain five restaurants, upscale retail stores, 17,500 square feet of meeting space and a 16,000-square-foot health center/spa. The Westin New Delhi Hotel, a joint venture with Haryana, India-based commercial real estate developer Vatika Group, will be located in the New Delhi central business district of Gurgaon. The hotel is slated to open in 2007.

In addition to the Westin New Delhi Hotel, which Starwood will manage, Starwood is also developing the Westin New Delhi Residences, which will consist of 1,500 upscale apartments ranging in size from two to five bedrooms.

Both the hotel and the apartment complex will be targeted at vacation and business travelers. And according to Starwood, tourism has grown nearly 20 percent this year compared to last year. Starwood is planning other ventures with Vatika in the near future.

As for Gurgaon, a recent CB Richard Ellis Inc. Report called the area--as well as nearby Noida and Delhi--the most preferred destination for corporate executives and multi-national companies seeking space in New Delhi. Gurgaon has benefited from falling interest rates, the increase in foreign direct investment and a positive stock market.

Earlier this month, Starwood expanded the Westin brand in China by agreeing to manage a 400-room hotel in the Guangdong Province, approximately 113 miles from Hong Kong. As it is doing in India, Starwood also found a local partner in Guangzhou Cheng Jian Tian Yu Real Estate Development Company Limited, a subsidiary of Poly (Hong Kong) Investments Ltd.