Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) announced today an unprecedented managerial endeavour to move its senior leadership team to China for one month. From 8-11 June through 11 July, Starwood President & CEO Frits van Paasschen and the company’s top executives will be headquartered in Shanghai, where they will conduct day-to-day business on a 12-hour time difference with their “usual” operations in White Plains, New York.
This unique relocation underscores Starwood’s game-changing growth in China, which recently became its second largest market outside of the US and its fastest growing. The move also reflects Starwood’s innovative approach to cultivate a more global culture in a company that grew up largely in the United States.
“With properties in nearly 100 countries, Starwood is no longer an American company that happens to run some hotels overseas. Today, we’re a global company that happens to be based in New York,” said van Paasschen. “Eighty percent of our future pipeline is outside of North America, and nowhere is more emblematic of our global growth than China, where we will open one hotel every two weeks this year. China’s spectacular transformation is hard to grasp unless experienced firsthand – it’s the proverbial, ‘you can’t really understand a culture until you buy groceries there.’”
From their home base in Shanghai, van Paasschen and seven members of his Senior Leadership Team will conduct daily business in an unconventional effort to understand, appreciate and ultimately leverage different cultural perspectives and approaches to business. In addition, more than 20 Starwood executives from the US and international locations will join the team throughout the course of the relocation. The group will delve into Starwood’s extensive business in China, meeting with local customers, partners and developers, while also touring new properties throughout the country.
