Subsidiary (Marriott International) | |
Industry | Hospitality, tourism |
Founded | 1969 as a REIT 1980 as a corporation |
Headquarters | Stamford, Connecticut, U.S. |
Products | Hotels, resorts |
Brands | St. Regis The Luxury Collection W Hotels Sheraton Westin Le Meridien Tribute Portfolio Design Four Points Aloft Element |
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Total assets |
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Total equity |
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Owner | Marriott International |
Number of employees
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181,400 (2013) |
Website | www |
Footnotes / references |
Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is an American hotel and leisure company headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut. One of the world's largest hotel companies, it owns, operates, franchises and manages hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties under its 11 owned brands. As of 1 December 2014[update], Starwood Hotels and Resorts owned, managed, or franchised over 1,200 properties employing over 180,400 people, of whom approximately 26% were employed in the United States.
On November 16, 2015, Marriott International announced it would purchase Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide for $13.6 billion, creating the world's largest hotel chain once the deal closed. The merger was finalized on September 23, 2016 after gaining the final approval from the American authorities. After the acquisition by Marriott was approved, the Starwood Preferred Guest program announced it would provide reciprocal benefits with Marriott's guest reward program. The two programs will be merged under a single brand in the future.
The Westin Hotels and Resorts brand is Starwood's largest upscale hotels and resorts brand. It was bought by Starwood in 1994 and is also the oldest brand within Starwood, dating back to 1930 and still continuing with it.
Sheraton is Starwood's "flagship" brand, providing luxury hotel and resort accommodation. It began operating in 1937 and was sold to Starwood in 1998 by ITT. Also under the Sheraton brand are 7 Vacation Ownership properties.
The Luxury Collection brand began on January 13, 1992, when ITT Sheraton designated 28 of its premier hotels and 33 of the Sheraton Towers, the luxury "hotel-within-a-hotel" facilities located within Sheraton's largest and most exclusive hotels, as the ITT Sheraton Luxury Collection. The flagship of the division was The St Regis in New York City.
The division expanded enormously two years later, in February 1994, when ITT Sheraton purchased a controlling interest in CIGA (Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi, or Italian Grand Hotels Company), an Italian international hotel chain which owned a number of luxury properties across Europe. The majority of the CIGA hotels were folded into the ITT Sheraton Luxury Collection. Both ITT Sheraton and later Starwood kept CIGA's original logo (the four horses of St. Mark) for The Luxury Collection brand logo until 2010; each Luxury Collection hotel now uses its own logo. After Starwood bought Sheraton, they established a separate brand identity for The Luxury Collection and expanded it. Many hotels in The Luxury Collection are smaller establishments in converted palaces or other significant buildings, others are restored historic hotels.