Starwood Hotels, Anil Ambani Group in JV talks to launch St. Regis brand

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The newspaper, citing sources close to the development, said that while Starwood will hold a majority stake in the venture, Reliance Land, a group company, would provide the land for the business, which will translate into equity.

Reliance Land is reportedly in talks with local land developers to acquire properties in Delhi, Mumbai, Hyderabad and Bangalore. However, company officials declined to comment on any development.

The company plans to use the unused property of Adlabs, in which it has 51 percent stake, for setting up hotel projects, sources said.

"Nothing has been confirmed at this stage. We are looking to grow our presence and brands in India and will definitely make the announcement at the right time," a Starwood official was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

Thomas J. Monahan, senior vice-president, acquisitions and development, Starwood Asia Pacific Hotels & Resorts, during a recent visit to India had reportedly expressed interest in investing in various business opportunities in India especially in the hospitality sector and was engaged in talks with various hotel chains.

Starwood, which has been operating in India through its brands Sheraton and Le Méridien recently announced that it would bring its Westin brand in Sohna in India in December this year.

The hotels division of India's top cigarette maker ITC Ltd which has been operating hotels under Starwood's Sheraton brand for about 30 years, recently brought its Luxury Collections brand to India by converting seven Sheraton properties into the latter.

Rising land prices in India have seen hotel chains entering into management deals with real estate developers for running hotels rather than owning properties themselves.

Starwood, one of the world's largest hotel companies, owns, operates, franchises and manages hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties under its nine owned brands that includes St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Méridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, and Element.

The firm presently owns, manages, or franchises more than 890 hotels in over 100 countries with about 240,000 rooms worldwide. Starwood Preferred Guest is the company's frequent stay program.

Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership Inc, one of the premier developers and operators of high-quality vacation interval ownership resorts.

India's booming economic growth at over 8 percent annually and a strong demand of hotel rooms have led foreign players to tap the Indian market and several international private equity funds and hotel groups are either entering into joint ventures or buying strategic stakes in local companies.