Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, a hospitality major of the US that runs brands like Sheraton and Le Meridien, will expand its presence in India by 60% by 2013. It will be opening 15 new properties during the period. Most of the properties are planned under the yet-to-be launched brand ? Aloft ? to be followed by other brands like Sheraton and Westin brands.

?India is a key focus of our expansion efforts because it is a market that is relatively under-hoteled at present,? said Frits van Paasschen, president and CEO, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Currently, Starwood has 26 hotels in the country under brands like Westin, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, The Luxury Collection and Le M?ridien. Of the total 15 new properties, the group will open three Westin, four Sheraton, six Aloft and two Le Meridien by 2013.

It plans to open two Aloft brand hotels this year in Bangalore and Chennai. It has opened a Westin brand hotel in Mumbai early this year and will be opening another in Gurgaon by the middle of 2010.

?We are looking at a room inventory of 2,000 under Westin brand of hotels by end of 2012,? said Vincent Ong, director, brand management – Sheraton and Westin, Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts. He added that other than Gurgaon, there are two more Westins expected to be added to the kitty of four at present in Jaipur and Kolkatta by 2013.

In the Asia-Pacific region, Starwood is looking at having a total room inventory of 10,000 under the Westin brand by the middle of 2010. At present, there are 29 Westin hotels in the Asia-Pacific region. Six more are planned by the year-end.

Hyatt Place to check in by ?11

Hyatt Hotels Corporation will be opening its first Hyatt Place, an upper-mid market brand outside the US, in India next year. The first one is expected to come up in New Delhi, to be followed by five more planned by the US-based hotel operator with real estate developer Emaar MGF.

The group will be making capital investment with Emaar MGF.

Last year, Hyatt announced a 24:76 joint venture with Emaar MGF for building six hotels in India by 2013. The two partners were to jointly invest around Rs 1,000 crore to build hotels under the mid-market brand, Hyatt Place. The agreement will ensure a total of 950 Hyatt Place guest rooms across Gurgaon, Hyderabad, Mysore, Lucknow, Indore and Mangalore. Hyatt also announced an agreement with DB Hospitality to develop the Grand Hyatt Goa, the Grand Hyatt Pune and the

Park Hyatt Mumbai apart from Hyatt Place at Mundra in Gujarat and Hinjewadi in Pune.

Typically, the size of a Hyatt Place property ranges from 125 to 200 rooms and is located in urban, airport and suburban areas.

In addition to Hyatt Place, the group is also looking at bringing its luxury brand Andaz and the mid-scale brand, Summerfield Suites, into the market.

?We are relatively small in the market now with five properties in the country. However, we see a huge potential in the Indian market and are committed to it,? said Mark Hoplamazian, president and chief executive officer, Hyatt Hotels Corporation. He added that he hopes to see the Andaz and Summerfield Suites brands arriving in the country within two years.

Currently, the group operates brands including Grand Hyatt, Hyatt Regency and Park Hyatt.