Le Meridien

Le Méridien is an upscale, design-focused international hotel brand with a European perspective, formerly headquartered in France and in the United Kingdom. It is owned by Marriott International, and has a portfolio of 100 hotels.

The Le Méridien brand was established in 1972 by Air France "to provide on a home away from home for its customers." The first Le Méridien property was a 1,000-room hotel in Paris — Le Méridien Etoile. Within two years of operation, the group had 10 hotels in Europe and Africa. Within the first six years, the number of hotels had risen to 21 hotels in Europe, Africa, the French West Indies Canada, South America, the Middle East and Mauritius. By 1991, the total number of Le Méridien properties had risen to 58.

In late 1994, Le Méridien was acquired by UK hotel company Forte Group, which in turn was acquired by Granada plc in 1996. Through a merger in the summer of 2000 between Granada plc and global contract caterer Compass Group — and the subsequent de-merger of the two companies in February 2001 — the ownership of the Forte Hotels division and its three brands (Le Méridien, Heritage Hotels and Posthouse Forte) passed solely to Compass.

In May 2001, Nomura Group announced the acquisition of Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts from Compass Group plc for £1.9 billion and Le Méridien was merged with Principal Hotels, which was acquired in February 2001. In December 2003, Lehman Brothers Holdings acquired the senior debt of Le Méridien.

On November 24, 2005, the Le Méridien brand and management fee business was acquired by Starwood Capital Group acquires Le Meridien Hotels & Resorts portfolio. The leased and owned real estate assets were acquired in a separate deal by a joint venture formed by Lehman Brothers and Starwood Capital.

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