Above: Cozumel

By the Caribbean Journal staff

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has announced plans to open a Westin-branded resort in Cozumel, Mexico.

The 156-room hotel is scheduled to open in the summer of 2016, and is one of seven hotels in development in Mexico.

It will also be the eighth Westin hotel in Mexico upon completion, the company said.

“With sustained GDP growth, a stable influx of foreign direct investment to high-growth markets, and a fast-rising middle class, Latin America continues to be a region filled with growth opportunities for our globally recognized and admired brands,” said Frits van Paasschen, President and Chief Executive Officer, Starwood Hotels and Resorts, in a release.

Starwood is on a major expansion push in the Latin American and Caribbean region, with plans to double its hotel stock in Colombia from four to eight hotels by 2016.

That will be led by the opening of two more Four Points by Sheraton hotels, with two Four Points properties to open in Colombia in June and September, respectively.

In the third quarter of this year, Starwood is set to open a W hotel in Bogota, with a Sheraton beachfront hotel set to open in Cartagena in 2015.