Marriott International has Acquired Starwood Hotel and Resorts. What Now?

By awk5421, February 25, 2016

Marriott has Launched The Biggest Merger in The History of Hospitality:

In November 2015, Marriott International announced that the hotel management and franchising company will be acquiring Starwood Hotel and  Resorts.  This incredibly huge acquisition, which will make Marriott International the largest Hotel Company in the world, came out of no where due to confidentiality agreements and amazing PR teams.

Starwood Hotels and Resorts, which owns and manages brands such as Westin, Sheraton, and W Hotels, announced that they were looking for a buyer in April of 2015.  This attracted many buyers, both domestic and international, and there was a lot of rumor going around and finding its way into listening ears.  One of the most notable companies that were interested was Hyatt Hotels, which is currently in the top 10 hotel companies in the world in terms of number of rooms.  Many different Chinese investment companies were also looking at the Hotel company
as an opportunity, but no one actually threw their hat in the ring.

This acquisition will add Starwood’s 1,200 Hotels to Marriott’s existing 4,800 hotels to make it the largest hotel management and brand company in the entire world.  The merger is set to be finalized by June 1st.

Future Implications for Starwood and Marriott:

This merger will effectively make Marriott the front runner in the hotel industry by a huge margin and will provide many advantages to the company in terms of both brand diversity and development.  Marriott is a staple in the Luxury market, with brands such as J.W. Marriott, Ritz-Carlton, and their namesake Marriott Hotels, but continually fails to introduce outstanding lifestyle brands.  Their latest attempt, the Edition brand, has consumers calling it “Marriott’s W Hotel”.  Starwood’s portfolio, on the other hand, is built primarily of luxury lifestyle brands spread throughout the world.

 

Though Marriott has a strong foothold domestically and is practically in every city nationwide, they have a relatively minor international presence.  Starwood compliments Marriott because they have a moderate presence domestically but are really big internationally.  Their brands are specifically tailored for the young international market and have unique themes for every kind of guest.  For example, The W Hotels implement a “Cocktail Culture” where their Lobbies double as a lounge and their associates are required to dress in the latest trends to appeal to the millennial market.