Louvre Hotels steps up expansion, focus on India

Louvre Hotels, owned by US investment group Starwood Capital, said on Wednesday it planned to open 80 new hotels in 2011, mostly in Europe and Asia. Louvre Hotels, the world's eighth-largest hotelier, also said in a statement it would raise funds to finance its expansion in India over the next five years but did not provide further details.

Louvre Hotels already operates 6 hotels in the fast-growing Indian market and has plans to open about 15 new hotels per year in the country over the next 5 years. In July 2009, Starwood, already the owner of Louvre Hotels, bought 240 hotels owned by Dutch operator Golden Tulip.