Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will roll out a series of initiatives globally to meet the specific needs of travellers from India, one of the world’s fastest growing travel markets.
The launch is an extension of the Starwood Personalised Travel Programme, first introduced in 2011 to target Chinese travellers, which will continue to expand over the next few years to accommodate travelers from other rapidly expanding regions.
The new programme, developed in partnership with Starwood’s India executive team, offers a range of amenities, food and services designed to make the Indian guests’ experience more comfortable.
Starwood sales organization senior vice president Christie Hicks said: “The anticipated surge in Indian outbound travel presents Starwood with a tremendous opportunity to stand out from the competition in how we welcome Indian guests and meet their needs. As the largest hotel operator of four and five star hotels in India, we have cultivated a loyal following among travellers within the country and now we’re focused on making them feel at home at our hotels across the globe”.
Items identified as important to Indian travellers included a tea or coffee maker, slippers, a mug in the bathroom, ironing board, and toiletries either in-room or available upon request.
Indian familiar foods to be incorporated on menus include masala tea, breakfast items like Dosa, Poori and Paratha, and eggs made to order at the breakfast buffet.
Starwood will also focus on developing customized wedding services that offer multiple options and venues for the various ceremonies, a pathway from the hotel gate to the banquet room for the wedding procession, and vegetarian options at the wedding buffet.
India is on track to triple its outbound travel to 30 million trips per year by 2020. With 1.2 billion residents, India is the world’s second most populous country and the second-fastest growing major economy.
India is currently Starwood’s fourth largest market, with 37 hotels plus another 32 under development, second only to China in terms of future global growth.
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