Hong Kong (2010-02-05)

STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts has reported that guests are returning to luxury accommodation after what it described as “the worse downturn in our lifetimes” in 2009, during the February 4 earnings call.

The group, which owns brands such as Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien and W Hotels, saw revenue per available room (RevPar) for the year fall 20 per cent as luxury properties were hardest hit in the global slump.

“As we have been predicting for some time, guests are coming back to luxury,” said Starwood CEO Frits Van Paasschen.

Regionally, he said Asia-Pacific stood out with RevPar for the luxury segment growing one per cent against declines of three per cent for the company as a whole.

Starwood chief financial officer Vasant Prabhu also said that Asia showed “the sharpest base of recovery” on trends such as the declining rate of cancellations and a rise in production for 2010. “The recovery was broad-based across Asia led by China. The only market that lags is Japan.”

Van Paasschen also revealed that the region was far and away the company’s largest growth driver, accounting for 50,000 of the 85,000 rooms in the pipeline.

Starwood plans to double its China portfolio and increase its inventory in India by 60 per cent by 2012.