Reliance Anil Dhirubhai Ambani Group is reported to be in talks with Starwood Hotels & Resorts for bringing their luxury brand, St. Regis in India.
Starwood has 9 hotel brands under its fold of which it runs four brands – Sheraton, The Luxury Collection, Le Meridian and Westin (due to be launched in December, 2007) in India. If the deal materialises, St. Regis would be the 5th Starwood brand to be launched in India.
ADAG and Starwood may float a special purpose vehicle (SPV) with ADAG holding majority stake. Reliance is believed to use its holding company Reliance Land and use the unused property of Adlabs in major cities for developing the hotels.
St. Regis is considered among the most exclusive hotels and has currently 13 properties in America, Europe and Asia while 11 more are coming up by 2010. If India does get a St. Regis, it would most probably come up in big cities rather than leisure destinations, as can be inferred from the existing locations of a St. Regis Hotel.
But with ADAG not having any previous experience in hospitality business, it would have to rope in a good management team for a successful foray. Also, with Starwood already sharing a partnership with ITC in hotel development, there may arise certain difficulties in execution of projects. via