Growing local footprint boosts Starwood sales

Growing local footprint boosts Starwood sales
By admin


A recent burst of new property announcements in Australia for Starwood has translated into a rise in local interest in its portfolio of brands, the hotel giant has revealed.

The hotel firm comprises St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le M√©ridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, and Element. It has a rapidly growing Australian footprint, with it most recently announcing the addition of a Four Points by Sheraton property in Melbourne's Docklands to its portfolio, to open in January 2017.

Speaking to Travel Today at the 2014 Starwood Australian Expo, senior vice president sales Asia Pacific Alison Taylor confirmed that Australian sales were above budget which was partly due to the increase in local activity.

“The domestic market for us is very strong, so any increase in product here means increased interest,” she said. “And they’re not just interested in Pacific product but also in what we’re doing in Asia and even more long-haul as well.”

Outbound sales from Australia for the Asia Pacific region have surged 10% in the last year, Talor revealed. Domestic is also "very robust" with accupancies are "north of 90%" in Sydney and Melbourne.

 Taylor said that external third party market research carried out by analysts STR Global had found that the company is trading “well above fair market share” in Australia.

“That’s how we gauge our success,” she said.

Loyalty programs have played a key role in delivering growth, as has the importance that Starwood places on its trade relationships. The company continues to build on relationships with its trade customers, with the distribution channel accounting for 70% of its overall business.

“That number is going up, it’s not decreasing as others may have predicted,” she said. “Our objective is to be the easiest company to do business with for our b2b operators.”

Vice president global leisure and luxury sales Chris Austin revealed that Australian trade customers are among the most engaged with its brands globally.

“For our pro-learning education modules, Australia ranks third for the highest number of graduates after the US and Canada,” he said. “That shows that we really have a very loyal business to business customer partnership here – it’s very strong”.

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