ITC Limited and Starwood Hotels & Resorts have announced that agreements have been signed to extend their existing partnership for 11 ITC Luxury Collection hotels and one hotel under the Sheraton brand. Further strengthening their partnership, the two also announced three upcoming ITC hotels under The Luxury Collection brand in India. The addition of the ITC Kohinoor in Hyderabad, ITC Narmada in Ahmedabad and ITC Royal Bengal in Kolkata will take the inventory up to 15 hotels, over the next 4 years.
Speaking on the extension of the partnership, Nakul Anand, Executive Director, ITC Limited said, “ITC’s hotels exemplify our commitment to create world-class Indian brands that demonstrate global competitiveness. The association with Starwood Hotels & Resorts for close to four decades, bears testimony to this commitment and we are pleased to further strengthen our alliance with three upcoming ITC luxury hotels in Kolkata, Hyderabad and Ahmedabad, which will be an archetype of the culture and region they are located in.”
Commenting on this occasion, Mr. Thomas Mangas, Chief Executive Officer, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc., said, “Starwood is experiencing strong growth momentum in India with signings of new hotels in the past 12 months representing nearly 30% of our current operating footprint in the country. India remains one of our fastest growing markets and much of our success can be attributed to our long, collaborative partnership with ITC. Together with ITC and our highly experienced local team, we look forward to offering our guests and customers more choices in more places, and our continued mutual success in the country.”
“Through this extension, we have further strengthened our partnership with ITC Hotels to offer international and Indian guests unique experiences in these new destinations,” said Dilip Puri, Managing Director India and Regional Vice President, South Asia, Starwood Hotels & Resorts.
This long standing partnership between the two companies came into being in 1979 with the Sheraton brand. In 2007, both companies signed an agreement through which Starwood introduced The Luxury Collection brand in India, which at present stands at 11 hotels. The Luxury Collection brand philosophy of offering unique experiences indigenous to their destination complements ITC Hotels’ own ethos of being rooted in the Indian tradition of warm, personalized service with Responsible Luxury at its core.
