It has been an interesting wait to find out who will be the new owner of Starwood Hotels. One of the forerunners earlier this year was IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group), and then came news that Hyatt Hotels was a strong contender. There were also Chinese investors looking to buy out the group.
However, via a news release just announced by Marriott, they will be taking over Starwood Hotels & Resorts, making the largest hotel company in the world. Marriott was one of the largest hotel management companies in the world anyways, but this further cements their position as one of the global biggies! The Combined Company Will Have 1.1 Million Rooms in More Than 5,500 Hotels, Spanning the Globe in Over 100 Countries.That also means some iconic brands such as St. Regis move over to the Marriott portfolio, which already has Ritz Carlton in its list. The transaction is expected to close mid-2016.
Here is an interesting infographic released by Marriott/Starwood:
While there are no details on the merger of loyalty programs, I am assuming at the moment that Starwood’s Program will merge into the Marriott program at some point of time.
What are your views on the merger? Did you see this coming? How does this affect you?
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I have the same question as Stacey. I found some good deals on this hotel at http://cashkaro.com/products/travel/hotels and therefore I am more curious.
i stay almost exclusively in marriotts, so i’m curious to see how this will affect me. will there suddenly be more elites competing for (already crowded in the US) concierge lounge space? will membership benefits decrease with so many more elites now in the pie? of course i’m delighted with the increase in choices … although this still doesn’t mean a marriott in santa barbara 🙁