QUITO, ECUADOR—Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide continues its aggressive growth strategy in Latin America with significant gains across its Specialty Select Brands’ (SSB) Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft. The company made the announcement today during the South American Hotel Investment Conference (SAHIC) here.
Currently, Starwood operates 80 hotels in the region, with 17 additional properties under development. With an existing SSB portfolio of 17 hotels under the Four Points by Sheraton and Aloft brands in Latin America, and 10 new hotels under development, the category is slated to expand by 60% in the next three years.
Seven new Four Points hotels are slated to debut in the fastest-growing markets in Latin America in the next three years. In Mexico—the company’s seventh largest market worldwide and largest market in the region—the company opened Four Points Queretaro in September, and will open three more hotels, including Four Points Saltillo in October, Four Points Cancun in December and Four Points Puebla in 2017. In Colombia, Four Points Bogota and Four Points Barranquilla will also open by the end of the year. In addition, the brand will open Four Points Cuenca in Ecuador by September 2017.
Three new Aloft hotels will open by 2016 in the region, including Aloft Merida, Aloft Montevideo and Aloft Asuncion.
Mexico continues to lead the region in terms of expansion, with eight hotels under development by 2017. In addition to the upcoming Four Points hotels, Starwood will open Aloft Merida, The Westin Cozumel, W Kanai Retreat and The St. Regis Kanai in Riviera Maya by 2016. In Colombia, the highly anticipated W Bogota will also open by the end of the year, followed by Sheraton Cartagena by the end of 2015. W Panama and Sheraton Santa Cruz are slated to open by 2016.
The company also appointed Victor Vazquez to the role of VP, Development and Acquisitions for Latin America. Vazquez, who has relocated to the company’s Miami office, brings more than 20 years of experience, most recently serving as brand standards and global project lead in Singapore for IHG. In that role, he was responsible for shaping and executing the operations strategy for IHG’s Asia, Middle East & Africa (AMEA) division and led the development of hotel operations models and process for new hotel brands, joint ventures and special projects.