CANNES, France—From the 12th annual International Luxury Travel Market (ILTM), W Hotels Worldwide announced the opening of its 45th hotel and first ever-ski retreat, W Verbier. The brand is on track to reach more than 60 hotels by 2017.
“The lasting impact W Hotels has made on the hotel industry cannot be overstated,” said Frits van Paasschen, chief executive officer and president of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide. “Over the past 15 years, W has turned the staid hospitality landscape on its head and demonstrated that a hotel is more than a place to check in and checkout as it continues to reinvent the category it created with each new hotel opening around the world.”
The opening of W Verbier continues the W brand’s global growth, which began 15 years ago with the debut of the David Rockwell-designed W New York in midtown Manhattan. W Hotels put a focus on design and social culture. Only six years after launching, the W brand’s popularity also spawned the creation of Starwood’s Aloft brand.
W provides a global platform for emerging talent, offering guests and locals insider access to what’s new and next in the destination and around the world. For example, W Hotels has been the first hospitality partner of the CFDA {FASHION INCUBATOR} program, providing exposure for these rising designers outside of New York City through regional fashion showcases and global inspiration trips to W Hotels around the world. Throughout the year, W also hosts regular live music performances and DJ sets in its Living Rooms and conducts an annual “DJ Lab,” at which international emerging DJs are mentored by industry giants in preparation for a global tour of W Hotels. Finally, W not only collaborates with cutting-edge design talent on its new hotels and retreats—from Concrete for W Verbier to Studio Gaia for W Bogota—but also through its ongoing relationship with Design Miami/ Basel and the W Hotels Designers of the Future Award, which recognizes up-and-coming designers and studios that are expanding the field of design.
As the 45th hotel globally, W Verbier and The Residences at W Verbier marks the entrance of W Hotels into Switzerland. The hotel is part of a multi-component luxury development project owned by Les Trois Rocs. W Verbier offers 123 rooms that are situated in four adjacent chalets on the Place Blanche, the heart of the Medran Project. The proeprty features the W Cafe, W Living Room, Away Spa and FIT (W’s take on the traditional fitness center) as well as an indoor/outdoor WET pool deck.
In the next five years, W Hotels will have presence in emerging markets around the world from Bogota to Beijing, Mumbai to Kuala Lumpur, Dubai to Jakarta, and Chengdu to Panama.
