Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Infobox_Company
company_name = Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
company_
company_type = Public (NYSE|HOT)
company_slogan = n/a
foundation = 1969 as a REIT
1980 as a corporation [cite web |url= http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=78669&p=irol-SECText&TEXT=aHR0cDovL2NjYm4uMTBrd2l6YXJkLmNvbS94bWwvZmlsaW5nLnhtbD9yZXBvPXRlbmsmaXBhZ2U9NTI2NTQ3MSZhdHRhY2g9T04%3d |title= Form 10-Q |accessdate=2007-11-12 |format= |work= |page=7 ]
location = White Plains, New York
key_people = | industry = Hotel chains, tourism
products = Temporary residence
revenue = $ 5.979 billion (2006)
num_employees = 145,000
homepage = [http://www.starwoodhotels.com/ www.starwoodhotels.com]

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE|HOT) is a hospitality ownership, management, and franchise organization based in White Plains, New York. One of the world's largest hotel companies, it owns, operates, franchises and manages hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties under its nine owned brands. As of May 1, 2007 the firm owned, managed, or franchised more than 860 hotels in over 95 countries with about 232,000 rooms worldwide.

History

Starwood Hotels and Resorts was originally formed by the real estate investment firm Starwood Capital to take advantage of a tax break; at the time the company was known as Starwood Lodging. [cite journal | url = http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m3870/is_n2_v14/ai_20390092/pg_1 | title = The trouble with REITs - real estate investment trusts | journal = CFO: Magazine for Senior Financial Executives | month = February | year = 1998 | first = Michelle | last = Celarier | accessdate = 2007-05-11 | issn = 8756-7113 | id = oclc|42457969 ] Initially, Starwood Lodging owned a number of hotels throughout North America, all under different brand names. The Westin Hotel Company was purchased in 1994 from Aoki Corporation of Japan. Starwood acquired the Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, and The Luxury Collection brands from ITT Sheraton in 1998.

In 1999, Starwood launched their "W" Hotels boutique brand. In September 2005, Starwood announced the launch of aloft, a new hotel brand based on W. aloft Hotels cater toward business travelers. Starwood intends to have 500 aloft hotels worldwide by 2012. In 2005, Starwood purchased the Le Méridien brand, which greatly increased the company's operations in Europe.

In 2004, Starwood's founder and CEO Barry Sternlicht stepped down as CEO to focus his attention on his other firm, Starwood Capital. He remained on the Board of Directors until 2005. He was succeeded as CEO by Steven J. Heyer, and Starwood began selling a number of its company-owned hotels, instead focusing on becoming a management company and franchiser for its current and future hotel brands. In April 2007, Steven J. Heyer left the company on the request of the Board of Directors because of an issue with Heyer's management style and after allegations of personal misconduct. [cite news | url = http://setup2.wsj.com/article/SB117590473824562740-C0wVg0bk4S0bRYE9gZwoaGPzsK0_20080429.html?mod=crnews | date = 2007-04-07 | work = The Wall Street Journal | title = Starwood CEO's Ouster Followed Battle with Board Over His Conduct | first = Peter | last = Sanders | coauthors = Joann S. Lublin | accessdate = 2007-05-11 | id = ISSN|0099-9660 oclc|4299067 ] Chairman of the Board Bruce Duncan served as interim CEO until September 2007, when the company announced Heyer's successor, Frits van Paasschen.

Brands

aloft; a vision of W Hotels

Introduced in 2005 with the first hotel opened in 2008, the aloft brand serves as a 'little sister' to the W Hotels, offering mid-scale select-service hotels. [ Starwood Hotels & Resorts International - http://www.starwoodhotels.com/alofthotels/newhotels/index.html ] Starwood has announced plans to have 500 aloft hotels by 2012.

Four Points by Sheraton

Four Points by Sheraton is Starwood's mid-market hotel brand. It was established in 1995 to replace the Sheraton Inn designation.

Le Méridien

Le Méridien is a French-founded hotel brand formerly headquartered in the United Kingdom, with 130 properties. Le Meridien was initially owned by Air France and its first property was Le Meridien Etoile in France. The brand was acquired by Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide in 2006.

The Luxury Collection

The Luxury Collection is the result of ITT Sheraton's 1994 purchase of a controlling interest in the Italian CIGA chain, the Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi, or Italian Grand Hotels Company. These hotels formed the core of The Luxury Collection which until 2008 still used the original CIGA logo, the Horses of Saint Mark, in Venice.Many of The Luxury Collection's hotels and resorts have a rich and distinguished heritage; Hotel Schloss Fuschl in Hof bei Salzburg, Austria is over 557 years old and at the time of its completion in 1875, the 552 room Palace Hotel, San Francisco, California USA was the world's largest hotel. Many Luxury Collection hotels were once residencies for European aristocracy and monarchy, for example, Hotel Imperial in Vienna, Austria was once the residence of Prince of Wurttemberg. Many notable guests of Hotel Elephant in Weimar, Germany include Goethe, Liszt, Johan Sebastian Bach and Leo Tolstoy.

heraton Hotels and Resorts

Sheraton Hotels and Resorts is Starwood's largest brand, providing luxury and upscale full-service hotels and resorts. One of the most recent innovations is "the Link@Sheraton", a project of its business centers partnering with Microsoft.

t. Regis

The St. Regis is one of Starwood's luxury brands. The first St. Regis hotel was built in 1904 in Manhattan, and in the 1930s under head bartender Fernand Petiot introduced America to the Bloody Mary cocktail. The St. Regis brand has since expanded to 20 properties around the world, and there are 21 more properties in development.

W Hotels

W Hotels is a boutique hotel brand launched in 1998 with the opening of the original W New York. Since then, the W Hotel brand has expanded to over 30 properties around the world. W Hotels positions itself as a chic boutique hotel brand. It stylizes everything with its W touch. For example, front desk is referred to as 'Welcome Desk', the elevators are "lifts", the Guest Service Commitment is 'Whatever/Whenever', the bathrooms are "WC's" (Water Closets), the pool is 'Wet' and the gym is 'Sweat'.

Westin Hotels & Resorts

The Westin Hotels & Resorts brand is Starwood's upper upscale luxury hotels and resorts brand, and it is the oldest brand within Starwood. Westin targest towards upscale business travelers and convention attendees.

tarwood Preferred Guest

Starwood Preferred Guest ("SPG") is Starwood's hotel rewards or loyalty program. Membership is free and instantaneous, either online or with the assistance of a hotel's reception staff member. A temporary membership card can be attained at the time of joining SPG, however the delivery of a laminated card with an introductory package usually takes six to eight weeks time for delivery.

Membership levels

The base entry level of membership is referred to as 'Preferred' and the membership number will feature an 'A' prefix.

Should a guest have a corporate or business relationship with a Starwood property, their membership may be upgraded by invitation only to a Preferred Plus or Business Preferred (B suffix) or Corporate (Suffix C). Those members who exceed either 10 stays or 25 nights, whichever occurs first, in a calendar year (1st of January - 31st of December) are awarded SPG Gold Membership (Prefix G). Those members who exceed either 25 stays or 50 nights, whichever occurs first, in a calendar year are awarded SPG Platinum Membership (Prefix P). There is also a very rare VIP membership (prefix V) which is by invitation only. Lastly, there is also an Employee Level of membership (Prefix E). A Starwood associate (usually reception staff) may earn starpoints themselves for enrolling new members to SPG.

Redemption categories

There are seven categories of Starwood Hotels and Resorts, 1 - 7 and each has a different starpoints requirement for free award night redemption (though some select hotels and resorts, such as the Le Parker Meridien New York, do not participate in Starwood Preferred Guest). For information on levels see the Starwood corporate website.

Partnerships

It has partnerships with firms such as American Express, MBNA Canada and 32 affiliated airlines. According to Starwood Hotels & Resorts' corporate profile, the SPG program has over 41 million members. [http://www.starwoodhotels.com/corporate/company_info.html] It was the first loyalty program in the hotel industry with a policy of no blackout dates and no capacity controls.

Awards

Since its inception in 1999, SPG has been awarded the Hotel Program of the Year six times by consumers via the prestigious Freddie Awards. However, in recent years, it has failed to capture this important award. SPG has won the Freddie Award for Best Award Redemption Category for the last 9 consecutive years, since 1999. Freddie Award website comments: "Starwood Preferred Guest's lack of award restrictions almost makes this an unfair fight. Starwood has owned this category since 1999, and this year is no exception."

Disney

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide currently has a hotel relationship with The Walt Disney Company. On January 13, 1990 the Walt Disney World Swan opened under the Westin Hotel brand. In June 1990, the Swan's sister hotel opened, the Walt Disney World Dolphin under the Sheraton Hotels brand. Even though these two hotels are official Disney hotels, and are on Disney property, Starwood Hotels runs, operates, and manages both.

Matt Ouimet, president of the Starwood Hotel Group, was formerly the president of the Disney Cruise Line and later the Disneyland Resort in California.

References

External links

* [http://www.starwoodhotels.com/ Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide official website]
* [http://islandwoo.com/2008/06/25/video-starwood-preferred-guest-aloft-launch-party-hawthorne-ny/ Video of Aloft Launch Party]