India welcomes first W in Goa
Starwood's W brand recently debuted in India with great fanfare. Dhananjay Saliankar, Regional Director, Sales & Marketing & Starwood Sales Organisation (South Asia), Starwood Hotels & Resorts reveals more.
Q Tell us about the new hotels opening in India.
We continue to bring in more brands and new hotels into new parts and markets within India. We have introduced our eighth brand in the country with the debut of W Goa. We are also expanding our resort portfolio with the Westin Pushkar Resort & Spa in October and will also open The Westin Kolkata Rajarhat later this year.
Apart from this, we have signed 14 deals for new hotels in India this year alone including entry into new mar- kets like Amritsar, Srinagar, Bekal and Rishikesh with more leisure business. We are expanding our presence in cities like Jaipur, Ahmedabad and Chennai.
Outside India, we are opening two hotels in Sri Lanka next year and have just opened an additional tower at the Four Points by Sheraton Dhaka. In the luxury space, we are excited about our third hotel, the St Regis Maldives Vommuli Resort, in the Maldives.
Q What are some of the digital initiatives that Starwood plans to incorporate?
One of Starwood’s biggest bet is digital innovation. We have successfully integrated mobile tech innovation to enhance the guest experience. Mobile technology allows both booking and planning on the property, from finding a hotel, to check-in, to unlocking the door and personalising stay.
Recently, in our tech-centric hotel brand, Aloft, we unveiled ‘ Project Jetson’. Now, for the first time, hotel guests can talk to their rooms, thanks to the help of Apple’s Siri. This service will soon be available at select Aloft properties. Our Keyless check-in initiative allows SPG Members to bypass front desk and go directly to their rooms. We introduced this feature at Aloft Bengaluru Cessna Park and hope to introduce it across other properties. We will also be the first hotel chain in India to welcome a robotic butler, 'Botlr' at one of our Aloft properties. This is yet another interesting combination of sensors and Wi-Fi connectivity to commu- nicate with the hotel and its software. The ROS-powered robot can get anything to and from the room without any hassle. What is also interesting is, when 'Botlr' arrives at the room, the guest can enter in a rating on its touch screen or offer a ‘tip’ in the form of a tweet.
Starwood was the first hospitality company that was invited to develop an App for the Apple Watch prior to the product’s unveiling. Combining high-tech and high-touch, the SPG app for Apple Watch is designed to anticipate and respond to the in-the-moment needs of guests from mobile checkin and opening their guest room door to providing information like the hotel address, confirmation number, and SPG account information with just a glance of the wrist. The SPG App for Apple watch was fully designed and developed in house.
Q Do you see any change in behaviour among foreign visitors?
Travellers today are welltravelled and a lot more aware of international brands. As a result their expectations of their travel experiences have also radically changed. Not only are they travelling more, but are also spending more when they travel. Notably a few trends that have emerged are solo travel, especially single women travellers, the demand for unusual destinations and unique experiences (gourmet, wellness, historic, adventure, etc). Concepts such as Spacation, Staycation, Winecation and Bleisure and even ‘Glamping’ (luxury tents) are on the rise.