Starwood's Sheraton engine: 20 new hotels in 2012

Sheraton will play a strategic role within the Starwood group in 2012: the American giant announced this week that its top-of-the-range brand will be the "powerhouse" of the group, with no fewer than twenty openings between now and the end of the year.

If Starwood is to be believed, 2012 could well be Sheraton's year: the American hotel group has just shown its colours by announcing twenty new establishments scheduled to open in 2012. Naturally, the Asian market will play a key role in this new expansion strategy: twelve new Sheraton hotels are due to open in China this year - mainly in secondary cities to take advantage of their high growth rate - with the other eight planned in North America, Indonesia, Bali and Saudi Arabia.