Starwood's McAveety sees travel industry transformed by mobile and digital

What are the prospects of the travel industry in Asia-Pacific?

McAveety: Last year saw impressive tourism growth across Asia-Pacific. Aside from China and India, Southeast Asia registered a strong tourism growth (approximately 15 per cent in tourist arrivals) and this is also reflected in occupancies of our hotels across the region. We expect that these trends will continue in 2013 and with the coming of ASEAN economic integration, we anticipate an increase in intra-region tourism and our extensive footprint in the region. 

We’ve also noticed that travellers have changed their travel patterns. With rising wealth across the globe, more people are travelling. With the digitally connected world, they are savvy in getting information, and hence they look for tailor-made experience and exotic locations. Emerging markets such as Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Myanmar or the Philippines will be destinations to look out for.

What is the role of mobile/digital strategy in the travel industry in the region?

Technology is changing society and reinventing business models. It is transforming our business and allowing us to be innovative in the way we serve and interact with our guests.

Travellers today are very different from the days of faxes and pay phones: They search, select and book hotels at the touch of a button. Research tells us that travellers visit 10 to 15 sites before they book online and that they trust online consumer reviews more than paid ads. Half have said that social media influences their travel plans. So mobile connectivity is everything. People look at their mobile devices every six minutes on average. Mobile or ecommerce is where companies are heading.

Last year, Starwood launched enhancements to our SPG Super App, Chinese version of our SPG iPhone App, updated mobile websites for guests to access our brands via smartphones, apps for new platforms like Android and our new mobile-enabled GEI (Guest Experience Index) survey.

What is Starwood’s expansion plan in the region?

Starwood operates over 245 hotels throughout Asia-Pacific and we are on track to reach 400 hotels by 2017. We continue to look for opportunities to grow our presence and introduce our brands to new destinations throughout Asia-Pacific.

Rising wealth, increasingly global businesses and a digitally connected world will continue to drive unprecedented demand for travel and new travel patterns across the globe. This year, we expect to open more new hotels across our highly sought-after luxury, upper-upscale and upscale brands (St. Regis, The Luxury Collection and W Hotels) across Asia-Pacific. 

Greater China continues to be our growth engine and we expect to open our 125th hotel there this year. Our presence in Southeast Asia continues to expand, while in South Asia, we continue to lengthen our lead as the largest upper-upscale/luxury hotel operator, with 34 hotels and 26 in the pipeline.

In mature markets such as Australia, we have been seeing a strong interest in conversions and new-built from developers and owners.    

You spent nine years with Leo Burnett [from 1988 to 1997]. How has your agency experience helped you on the client side?

Spending a decade on the agency side at the start of my career was a great experience. It gives you the opportunity to work with multiple brands across very different business sectors in a relatively short time. You get to understand the dynamics of creativity and imperatives of business delivery and how to balance between them. I think it allows me to support creative processes and ideas from agencies, since I lived it for so long, without losing sight that we have clear goals in terms of timing, cost and business results.