n Sign up for your free digital subscription to spa opportunities magazine: www.spaopportunities.com/green Starwood to expand luxury portfolio


Starwood Hotels and Resorts plans to open 80 new hotels in 2012, building on a year of record growth with 112 new hotel deals in 2011 – the high- est number since before the global economic crisis. One of its key growth mar-


kets will be Europe, where the operator is looking to further benefit from the slow growth in the Eurozone and its prop- erty market. Starwood has confirmed that it has secured deals for 25 new hotels in Europe and will phase the launches over the coming four years. Perhaps more significantly, Starwood said it


Te resort is the Accor brand’s ninth worldwide Te W Hotel in Paris is one of Starwood’s latest new openings in Europe


£63m) in renovating and restoring some of its most iconic Luxury Collection hotels. Some of the hotels to benefit include the


will be concentrating its investment and growth in luxury properties as it firmly believes in the recovery of the high-end market. Of the 80 openings in 2012, more than 60 per


cent will be in the luxury and upper-upscale segment. In the past four years, Starwood has grown its global luxury room count by 75 per cent. And it isn’t just new luxury properties that Starwood is spending money on. Te com- pany has invested more than US$100m (€76m,


Grand Hotel in Florence, Italy – re-opened last year as a St. Regis hotel; the Hotel Alfonso XIII in Seville, Spain; and Hotel Gritti Palace in Venice, Italy, as well as Hotel Maria Cristina in San Sebastian, Spain. Simon Turner, president of global develop-


ment for Starwood, said: “Starwood’s pipeline of both managed and franchised deals for all nine brands in Europe is healthy and expected to grow in 2012.”


Taj opens Vivanta-branded spa hotel in Kerala


Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces has opened a new Vivanta by Taj-branded spa resort in northern Kerala, India. The 25-acre (10-hectare)


Vivanta by Taj, Bekal resort is home to the Jiva Grande Spa, which is spread over 165,000sq ſt (15,000sq m). Spa facilities include single


and double treatment rooms; beauty treatment rooms; med- itation and yoga pavilions; relaxation pools; and a large health and fitness club. All treatment rooms have


Accor opens Pullman spa resort in Marrakech


Accor has announced the opening of its ninth Pullman spa resort in Marrakech, Morocco, as part of the brand’s continuing expansion into new destinations. Located amid a 17-hectare (42-acre) olive


grove, the 252-bedroom Pullman Marrakech Palmeraie Resort and Spa includes a Fit and Spa Lounge housed in its own 500sq m (5,382sq ſt) pavilion Te spa component of the lounge includes


two individual and two double massage cabins, with one of the double cabins con- taining its own whirlpool. Two body scrub cabins, a traditional


hammam and a relaxation room also form part of the Fit and Spa Lounge, in addition to a fully-equipped fitness room and a 430sq m (4,628sq ſt) heated pool.


Global room rate growth ‘points towards recovery’


New research from hotels.com has showed a 4 per cent increase in average hotel room prices across the world in 2011 – a sign that national economies are starting to recover. Te hotels.com 2012 Hotel Price Index


(HPI) has found that average room rates in 69 of the 88 city or resort locations analysed had increased during the past 12 months. Emerging economies such as Brazil,


Te new Vivanta-branded resort boasts a 165,000sq ſt Jiva Grande Spa


their own private, landscaped courtyards. Tere is also a sauna area with vitality pool, as well as ‘alepa’ and ‘abhisheka’ (sanskrit terms for anointing and ritual) pavil- ions dedicated to signature experiences and purifying bathing ceremonies. Te Jiva Spa menu at Vivanta Bekal features


signature experiences; ayurveda programmes; Indian therapies; Indian aromatherapy; scrubs and wraps; and beauty rituals. Te spa has been designed as a traditional ayurvedic physician’s


© CYBERTREK 2012


(vaidya) house, which features a satvik din- ing lounge, courtyards, landscaped relaxation spaces and meditation areas. Te spa’s signature treatment is panchkarma,


a unique treatment in ayurveda with five purif- icatory procedures that initiate cleansing and removal of toxins from the body. Accommodation at the resort is offered in


71 villas; 32 rooms with private pools; and four spa-themed Luxury Bliss-branded suites.


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China and Russia saw “sharp” growth in hotel prices, with Rio de Janeiro and Hong Kong both recording double-digit increases in 2011. However, the HPI said the aver- age increase had “masked” the effects of political unrest in the Middle East and the natural disaster in Japan, with Asian room rates down 2 per cent. David Roche, the president of hotels.


com, said: “Price volatility in 2011 meant UK travellers found it more expensive to stay in the majority of their favourite des- tinations abroad.”


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