Starwood Hotels and Resorts is considering the launch of Element, its Environment-friendly brand, in India.
Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice-President, Specialty Select Brands of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, told this correspondent on Sunday that Element was on the cards for India. A decision would be taken on it shortly. Four Points, Aloft and Element were specialty specific brands for Starwood. Element was a three-year-old, environment-friendly brand for Starwood and nine hotels were present globally. Starwood had 52 Aloft properties globally and this would increase to 70 by the end of 2013.
Starwood now had 33 properties operational in India. Six of its nine brands were already present here. Apart from these, it planned to open W Hotels in Mumbai, Delhi and Goa and St. Regis was proposed in Delhi. Three Aloft properties were already operational in India, and five more were planned by the end of next year. The company planned to have 100 hotels in India by 2015, including those open and operational and those for which agreements were signed.
