By Wei Hua (China Daily)
Updated: 2008-03-20 10:43

Luxury hotel operator Starwood Hotels and Resorts plans to add 70 new properties in China in the next three years.

The Chinese hotels will make up the bulk of the 100 to be added across the Asia-Pacific region, Oliver Bonke, senior vice-president of sales and marketing at Starwood Asia-Pacific, said.

"China will get more (Starwood) hotels than any other countries in the world," he said.

Bonke was in China recently signing hotel deals. The group now operates 40 hotels in the country.

On Saturday, Starwood signed contracts for two Shanghai hotels. That was two days after it made deals with Morgan Stanley for a Westin and a St Regis hotel in Jiangsu provincial capital Nanjing.

That brings to 13 the number of hotel deals Starwood has signed in the first 11 weeks of the year. Last year, it added 50 new hotels in the country.

The hotel operator plans to open 15 new hotels in China this year. Its Aloft hotel, a limited service version of the W brand, is also expected to open in Beijing this year ahead of the Olympic Games in August.

Five W hotels are planned for China.

Bonke said Starwood's brand portfolio has given the group an edge in the Chinese market. "It's quite easy for us to grow because we speak to different customers," he said.

Starwood owns eight brands including Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Westin, St Regis, Le Meridien, Aloft and W.

Bonke said China offers huge potential for international hotel groups as it has the world's lowest number of branded hotel rooms by population.