Starwood Hotels & Resorts has very ambitious plans regarding its expansion in Europe. The internationally famous hotelier plans to open there as many as 60 new hotels by 2020. Starwood is mostly interested in fast-growing European markets, for example, Turkey, Russia and other CIS countries (the Commonwealth of Independent States). Some hotels out of these 60 are already known in the nearest future Starwood will open Sheraton hotel in Istanbul, Turkey. Sheraton Istanbul Atasehir Hotel will become the seventh hotel by this brand in the country. With its huge network of hotels around the world, global loyalty program and widely recognized brands, the company plans to conquer new markets and become very popular with visitors.
In 2013, Starwood opened three new hotels in Turkey and four more are to come this year. These are going to be Four Points Sheraton hotel in Istanbul, the St. Regis hotel in Istanbul and two properties under the Sheraton brand in Istanbul and Samsun.
Sheraton Istanbul Atasehir will have 160 guestrooms and will feature fantastic looks of the Marmara Sea and the city. The hotel will provide everything necessary for business and leisure visitors, including meeting rooms, event space, an all-day dining restaurant, a lobby bar, an outdoor swimming pool and Sheraton Shine Spa with five treatment rooms. At the moment, Sheraton has 10 hotels in Turkey that operate under five brands.
In 2013, Starwood signed as many as 13 contracts regarding managing hotels in Europe. Last year, the international hotelier added 7 hotels in Europe with the total of 1,200 guestrooms to its portfolio. With 12 hotels in Europe under development, Starwood will double its portfolio in the region by 2016. Soon the company will debut in Europe with its Element brand by opening a hotel in Frankfurt Airport, and will launch new hotels in Amsterdam, Liverpool, Munich, Kiev, Stuttgart, and St. Petersburg.