Above: a rendering of the Sheraton Santo Domingo

By Alexander Britell

PUNTA CANA — The Sheraton brand will be returning to Santo Domingo in December with the opening of the Sheraton Santo Domingo Hotel, Starwood Hotels announced.

The 245-room hotel, owned by Hoteles Nacionales, is undergoing a $6 million renovation.

The property, which was first built as a Sheraton 35 years ago, has been known as the Melia Santo Domingo hotel for the last 15 years.

It will be the second Sheraton to open in the Dominican Republic this year, following the debut of the Four Points by Sheraton Punta Cana Village in October.

Santo Domingo attracted Starwood due to its strength as a corporate travel centre, according to Dwight Tabales, managing director at the Sheraton Santo Domingo, where 85 percent of the hotel market is corporate.

“A lot of people from the states come to the city to do business, and Sheraton is Starwood’s core brand for corporate,” he said Wednesday at the DATE conference in Punta Cana. “That’s the reason that appeared to the brand.”

The hotel is currently open as the Hotel Magna 365 ahead of its debut as the Sheraton in December.