PHOENIX—From the Lodging Conference 2013, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. today announced its’ Aloft brand has reached the 75th hotel milestone with the opening of Aloft Panama, the brand’s fourth hotel in Latin America.
Aloft is already operating in 14 countries and is set to debut in another 10 countries by 2016. In the past six months alone, the Aloft brand has opened hotels in Miami, Chicago, Cleveland, Tulsa, Cancun, Bursa, Kuala Lumpur and Ahmedabad. The brand’s momentum continues unabated and the company expects to open a total of 17 hotels by year’s end, more than tripling the number of rooms opened in 2012, with another 19 hotels to come by the end of 2014.
“From the start, Aloft has been an industry game-changer that has turned the specialty select category on its head,” stated Brian McGuinness, SVP of Specialty Select Brands for Starwood. “With its design-led focus, accessible new technologies and buzzing social scene, Aloft delivers exactly what the next generation traveler wants now. The fact that we can deliver this all at an affordable price point, in more and more markets each year, has helped fuel the brand’s worldwide growth.”
In North America, the Aloft brand has reached 55 hotels with nearly 20 more in the pipeline, while Asia Pacific remains the brand’s second fastest growing market with a total of 12 hotels currently open. In the next 12 months, Aloft Hotels will add three more hotels to its China portfolio with openings slated for Dalian, Yancheng and Guangzhou, and another two hotels in India with openings in Bengaluru and New Delhi. In Latin America, Aloft will increase its portfolio to six hotels in 2014, with new hotels set to debut in Guadalajara and Merida, and the brand will also expand in the Middle East with the opening of Aloft Riyadh early next year.
“Aloft’s truly global growth since its introduction in 2008 has been exceptional, and the brand, already in 14 countries, continues to be fueled by great global momentum,” stated Simon Turner, President, Global Development, for Starwood.
“To keep up with growing owner and guest demand around the world, we’ve developed a conversion-friendly strategy that allows our partners to reposition assets in a time and cost-effective manner while maintaining brand integrity, and grow not only through new builds, but also through conversions and adaptive re-use projects.”