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First Element completes Starwood lineup in China

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s Element brand will enter Asia Pacific after announcing on Thursday an agreement with Suzhou Science and Technology Town Kexin Cultural Tourism Development Co. to open a new-build Element hotel in Suzhou Science and Technology Town (SSTT), an eco-city adjacent to the commercial and administrative center of the city’s high tech industrial development zone.

Slated for completion in mid-2015, the 190-room hotel, Element Suzhou Science and Technology Town (Element Suzhou), marks the presence of all of Starwood’s nine differentiated lifestyle brands in the region.

“Chinese travelers are open to, and seek out, innovative and affordable hotel brands, and Element’s arrival not only completes Starwood’s brand line-up, but also echoes the growing consciousness of sustainable development in China,” said Qian Jin, president, Greater China, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

“We expect this new property to become a flagship Element hotel, re-setting the bar on hotel innovation and sustainability in the region,” added Robert Zhang, Starwood’s vice president, acquisitions & development, Greater China.

Bordering Shanghai in the east, Suzhou is transforming into an urbanized, high tech industrial development zone. It currently houses firms engaged in the electronics, IT, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, electrical machinery, and chemicals industries. Since 2003, over 150 state-level research institutes, R&D organizations, tech-based innovative companies, training organizations, and outsourcing and design companies have settled in SSTT.

Starwood currently manages Four Points by Sheraton Suzhou and is on track to open six hotels there by 2018. In addition to Element Suzhou, the pipeline includes The 1958, A Luxury Collection Hotel, Suzhou; Four Points by Sheraton Suzhou, Mudu; The Westin Suzhou Xiangcheng; W Suzhou; and Sheraton Suzhou Taihu Resort.

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