White Plains, New York-based
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc (
HOT
)
is all set to expand in the Asia Pacific with its Luxury Collection
brand. The company's Luxury Collection brand recently debuted in
Jakarta with the inauguration of Keraton at Plaza; the capital of
Indonesia.
This new hotel marks the 80
th
Luxury Brand hotel across the globe and first of the four hotels
planned to open in Asia Pacific in the next six months. Out of the
remaining three hotels in the pipeline, two are scheduled to open
in China and one in India.
Keraton at The Plaza features 140 guest rooms and suites,
Keraton Lounge and Bengawan restaurant. The hotel is also expected
to provide the Luxury Collection's signature Concierge service to
all its guests.
Jakarta is Indonesia's economic, cultural and political center.
As the third biggest economy in Indonesia, Jakarta attracts a large
number of visitors. Jakarta is served by the Soekarno-Hatta
International Airport and the hotel is just 30 km away from the
airport. Additionally, hoteliers can enjoy the sightseeing, as all
the important sites are at close proximity to the hotel. Management
views it as an excellent venue for both social and corporate
events. We expect Starwood to benefit from its strategic location
going forward and will drive traffic from all over the world.
The Luxury Collection brand was launched in 1906 and remains on
the track to spread its operations globally through its 80 hotels
in more than 30 countries. The brand is well known for its great
service, style and class along with individuality of each hotel.
Management believes that the brand adds ideally the luxury hotels
into the system and hence is investing over $100 million for
restoring the brand. In five years the footprint of the brand has
grown by 40% and gained 270 points in RevPAR index.
The company is poised to benefit from greater demand for hotels
in the international markets compared to the U.S., especially in
the Asia-Pacific region, where the pace of economic recovery is
faster. Starwood can capitalize on this trend as its international
exposure is wider than most of the other hoteliers such as
Wyndham Worldwide Corporation
(
WYN
) and
Hyatt Hotels Corporation
(
H
). Of its total pipeline, 60% is focused toward the Asia-Pacific
markets. In Asia, the company currently operates 220 hotels and
plans to open approximately additional 20 hotels for the remainder
of the current year. The key growth markets in Asia-Pacific are
China and India.
Starwood is a leading worldwide hospitality company with primary
focus on property ownership, management and franchising. Starwood
derives the majority of its revenue from its full-service,
luxury/upscale brands such as Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis, The
Luxury Collection, W, Four Points by Sheraton, Le Meridien, AloftSM
and ElementSM.
Starwood currently retains a Zacks #2 Rank, which translates
into a short-term Buy rating. We are also maintaining our long-term
Neutral recommendation on the stock.
HYATT HOTELS CP (H): Free Stock Analysis Report
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