WHITE PLAINS, NY— Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide is moving forward with an aggressive and highly strategic plan to enhance and expand its platform of nine brands. Helping to further that strategy is its executive team, which has gained some new players over the past year. One such prominent newcomer is Simon Turner, who was appointed president of global development for Starwood this past May. While he may be new to the company, Turner is certainly a veteran in the hospitality industry, having been in development for more than 25 years, including serving as principal of Hotel Capital Advisers, Inc. “At this point in my career I was drawn to Starwood because of the culture that is innovative, design-led, entrepreneurial—and brand focused,” Turner said. And as Turner and the rest of the Starwood team set the game plan for the coming years in terms of development, that brand focus only continues to be more fine-tuned. “Each brand has a distinct, different niche and has different opportunities in different markets worldwide,” he explained. As its newest brands, Aloft and Element are already gaining traction and Turner is bullish on their prospects. “Both of the brands have been so enthusiastically embraced by the development community and we could not be more pleased about that,” he said, stressing the goal for Aloft, in particular, was to break new ground in the select-service segment. “It’s a game change move. Aloft is the next chapter in select service and we’re catering to a different demographic of traveler that we had 25 years ago. Now that properties are starting to open—we expect to have 20 open in next to no time—the brand is starting to become known to the consumer and that means developers are seeing the momentum.” And while both are still in their youth, Starwood already has set its sights on developing both Aloft and Element on an international scale. In fact, Turner reported Aloft will soon open its first hotel in China. “We’ve had a number of inquiries from developers for locations such as India, Germany and Brazil. They are looking at the product and telling us the design, the social aspect and the affordability of the product works. There is so much consumer demand because the same demographic changes taking place here in the U.S. are taking place all over the world,” Turner said. On the flipside, the Sheraton brand is far from a newcomer, but is a brand that has been, and continues to, receive a great deal of attention from Starwood. “Sheraton has been around forever. A huge focus for us is to get the brand in a better place in North America so that it can achieve its full potential,” Turner said. Starwood has already invested approximately $4 billion toward improving the brand and development is continuing at a bustling pace. “We’ve been opening one new Sheraton about every three weeks; developers have recognized how committed we are to Sheraton’s success,” Turner said. Turner cited as an example of one of the newest U.S. Sheratons, the Sheraton Downtown Phoenix in Phoenix, which will soon debut and, with 1,000 rooms, will be the state’s largest hotel. On the luxury side, Turner explained Starwood is highly optimistic regarding the expansion of the Le Méridien brand, especially in North American markets where the brand options have been exhausted. “There are so many cases, in certain cities, where the market has run out of high-end flags,” he said. “Le Méridien is well-known internationally, but we have a bit of a blank slate [in North America]. The gateway cities see a great deal of international traffic and the inbound consumer is very familiar with the brand, so this is a natural direction for us to go in.” However, Turner stressed that although there are many opportunities for Le Méridien, the brand’s development is not being approached haphazardly or in a rushed manner. “We’re moving slowly and cautiously because it is so important we position Le Méridien in the right way,” he said. Obviously, it is difficult to have any conversation regarding hotel development these days without addressing the tenuous economic situation that currently exits, but Turner is cautiously hopeful Starwood will weather the affects. “The economy is impacting everyone. The financial challenge right now seems to be a Wall Street problem versus being a ‘Main Street’ problem,” he said, noting Starwood is holding fast to its development mantra. “We always say you need to have the right property in the right place with the right partner and that impacts all our decisions. Right now the Aloft, Element, Four Points and smaller Sheraton projects are still moving at a good pace. Yes, things are harder, but they’re not impossible.” Turner forecasted that while the financial market is in peril and the economy is uncertain, the companies with a strong foundation should be able come out relatively unscathed. “I think it will be the properties in ‘B’ locations and inexperienced developers and/or brands without corporate support that may suffer in these times. And now is certainly not the time to launch a new brand from an independent platform. It’s more challenging right now to grow, but the established players can keep the pace at an acceptable level. Right now 75% of our pipeline is financed. We just signed our 300th hotel in China and we should open our 1000th hotel in 2009,” he said. For Turner, also working in Starwood’s favor is its new executive team under the leadership of new CEO Frits van Paasschen and the recently appointed Matthew Avril, the president of Starwood Hotel Group, and Phil McAveety, the chief brand officer. “Starwood is a company that has grown up very quickly, and culturally we are coming of age so we need to be global thinkers,” Turner said. “Frits has stressed to us that for the next five years, Starwood is a ‘team sport,’ so it is critical we all work together and marshal our resources. It’s not about the past. It’s about how we’re going to go forward.”
