STARWOOD Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will soon have two of its hotel brands – Sheraton and The Luxury Collection – in Sri Lanka.

Earlier this month, India’s ITC Group, a franchisee for the Sheraton and Luxury Collection, finally pushed through a deal with Sri Lanka’s Board of Investment, allowing it to develop a mixed-used project with a Luxury Collection hotel on a two-hectare site in Colombo  (TTG Asia e-Daily, December 5, 2011).

Simultaneously, Starwood signed a management contract with Lanka Hotels & Residencies, Greenwater Resorts India and Eurocon Building Industries UAE to operate the 306-key Sheraton Colombo Hotel.

Located about a kilometre from the proposed Luxury Collection site, the Sheraton is scheduled to open in September 2013.

Anura Lokuhetty, president, Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, said the country was experiencing a “second wave” of top international hotel chains entering the market.

“Brands look at places where there is potential...where others go. A good example is the Maldives, where all the big brands are present,” he said.