Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has revealed that it will use its Sheraton brand to lead the company's global growth, with China being identified as a key market.

The hotel operator will open 25 new Sheraton hotels this year, 16 of them China.

In full, the investment in the Sheraton brand represents 30 per cent of the company's total development pipeline.

Simon Turner, the group’s president of global development, said: "Sheraton is the number one contributor to Starwood's global growth and has given us a significant lead in many fast-developing markets,"

"In China, which is now Starwood's second largest market after North America, Sheraton is expanding its presence in the country's biggest cities such as Beijing and Shanghai, as well as in rapidly developing urban centers including Guangzhou, Wanning and Hangzhou.”

Turner added that the strategic goal is to operate 100 hotels in China by the end of 2012.

Elsewhere, Starwood will open its first hotel in Hiroshima, Japan this year and its second in Seoul, South Korea. It will also open its first Sheraton in Bangalore, India in 2011.