Marriott’s Acquisition of Starwood to be Complete This Week
After a long saga, Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood has received final antitrust merger approval from the Chinese Ministry of Commerce and the combination of Starwood and Marriott is expected to be complete before the market opens on September 23, 2016.
Once the merger is complete, Marriott will be the largest hotel company in the world with 5,500 hotels and 1.1 million guest rooms. That’s a lot of properties.
Once the merger is complete, the following Starwood brands will be under the new Marriott umbrella –
St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W Hotels, Design Hotels, Westin, Le Meridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft, Element, Tribute Portfolio.
They will join existing Marriott brands –
EDITION, The Ritz-Carlton, Bvlgari, JW Marriott, Autograph Collection, Renaissance, Marriott, Delta Hotels & Resorts, Marriott Executive Apartments, Marriott Vacation Club, Gaylord Hotels, AC Hotels by Marriott, Courtyard, Residence Inn, SpringHill Suites, Fairfield Inn & Suites, TownePlace Suites, Protea Hotels, MoxyHotels.
We still don’t know what will happen to some aspects of the existing Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program. I don’t expect SPG points to get converted on a 1:1 ratio (and certainly hope they don’t), as I value my Starwood points much more. Starwood loyalists anxiously await answers about elite benefits, and now that the merger is almost done we’ll certainly hear more details soon.
