WHITE PLAINS, NEW YORK Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has added comprehensive online booking capabilities in Chinese to all of its branded websites, including SPG.com. Chinese speakers can use double-byte Chinese characters to search for a hotel, make reservations and retrieve booking information.
“Due to the strong growth of our online customer base in China, we have enhanced our branded websites to offer a superior online experience for Chinese speakers,” says Miguel Ko, chairman and president of Starwood in Asia Pacific. “Our mission has always been to listen to our customers and to stay ahead of changing trends and needs.”
China, which is already Starwood’s second largest hotel market with 70 existing hotels and more than 80 in the pipeline, is expected to pass the United States as the top country tourism market by 2015. One of every three new Starwood hotels is slated to open in China now through the end of 2011, including new brand flagships for eight of its nine brands. Meanwhile, China continues to lead the growth of the Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program, representing the second largest market for SPG.
To meet growing demand, Starwood opened the largest customer contact center of any international hotel company operating in China, in 2009. Located in Guangzhou, the center employs more than 160 associates to support Chinese-speaking customers. Starwood is also the only hospitality company in China that provides 24-hour customer support for its Chinese-speaking customers.
“It is essential that we provide a seamless experience for our Chinese customers, especially at a time when China’s heightened appetite for our high-caliber global brands is having a phenomenal impact on our business,” says Phil McAveety, Starwood’s chief brand officer.
With the addition of Chinese, Starwood now offers websites in eight languages: English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, Italian, French and Japanese. One fifth of the world’s population speaks some variety of Chinese.