The merger with Marriott will also let Starwood remain under United States management and group its brands with those of Marriott, such as Ritz-Carlton, Gaylord Hotels and JW Marriott.
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“So if we’re financing a Westin (a Starwood brand) in downtown DC and there’s a full-service Marriott across the street, I should expect Wells Fargo is going to say, ‘What’s the relationship between these two hotels going to be?'”
Marriott has said members of Starwood and Marriott loyalty schemes can link their accounts here.
“Marriott’s and Starwood’s guests have shown tremendous loyalty to our brands, and now that we are one company, we are seizing the opportunity to reinforce our loyalty to them”, Fortune also quoted Linnartz as saying.
The merger more than doubles Marriott’s distribution in Asia, the Middle East and Africa combined, the company said.
The enlarged Marriott oversees 5,700 properties with more than 1.1 million rooms.
For the time being, Marriott Rewards will continue to partner with JPMorgan Chase for its credit card program and SPG will stick with American Express to offer the Starwood Preferred Guest Card. Messrs. Hippeau and Lewis are also former Starwood board members.
In addition, the merger comes with a 3-to-1 exchange rate that has been deemed equal; every Starwood point is worth three Marriott Rewards points. With the acquisition, Marriott is now world’s largest hotel company.
Marriott estimates that the merger will allow it to make $250m in annual cost savings and kick start expansion in to new markets. Additional synergies at the property level should come in the form of leveraging scale in operations and sharing best practices, according to the company.
Starwood has opened 30 new hotels across its Aloft, Four Points and Element brands this year and is expected to open 14 more by December 31, which would bring its total portfolio in the segment to well over 350 hotels worldwide. For the past 5 years, the company’s revenue has grown 4.4%, while the company’s earnings per share has grown 21.1%.
In other news, SVP Brian G. Macnamara sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, August 10th.
The Marriott takeover of Starwood has been a rocky journey that has taken nearly a year to consummate.
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Sorenson said that its agreements with third-party hotel owners require keeping those hotels’ brands as is through the remainder of those contracts. This dividend is payable October 31, 2016, to common shareholders of record on September 30, 2016. Without doubt, there will be some members from Starwood’s headquarters that end up in Bethesda. “A choice in locations, a choice in the kind of hotel, a choice in the amount a customer needs to spend”, Arne Sorenson, the chief executive of Marriott International, was quoted as saying by the agency.
