News & Stories

Paris. Since Monday, more than 40,000 delegates from 195 countries have gathered to attend the Global Summit on Climate Change being held in Paris until December 11. It's the hoteliers' duty now to capitalize on every delegate attending the event as an opportunity to catch up on revenue lost after the November 13 attacks.

Southlake. The next merger has been announced: Sabre Corporation on Tuesday, November 24, 2015 announced that it will acquire the Trust Group of Companies, a central reservations, revenue management and hotel marketing provider with a significant presence in EMEA and Asia Pacific.

Amsterdam. Arne Sorenson, the Marriott CEO and future leader of the combined Marriott-Starwood company tried to reassure everybody last week after the announcement of the mega merger. The enlarged brand portfolio seems to have become the most important issue to deal with. Experts compare the current consolidation with the airline industry of the past.

Rueschlikon/Zurich. In ten years, will our buildings be constructed with 3-D printers and robots and will the building technology, security systems and multimedia be solely managed digitally? A new study that addresses these questions also reveals at the same time: Digitisation within the construction industry has yet to progress very far at all.

Bethesda. At the end of the day, it was a share consideration: Starwood Hotels made itself an interesting target offering itself for sale in February this year, but it only became interesting to Marriott Hotels when its share value dropped by 15 percent several months later. In this respect, the price of 12.2 billion dollars Marriott is paying for Starwood could be considered favourable. The transaction that will be carried out by mid-2016 is a mega deal – or even a killer deal? The new global giant chain combines 4,300 Marriot hotels and 1,270 Starwood hotels, 19 brands on the one hand and 11 brands on the other, as well as 54 million and 21 million loyalty programme members respectively. The result is the biggest chain in the world consisting of more than 5,500 hotels, 1.1 million rooms, 30 brands and 75 million loyalty members. This dimension heralds a new era in the hospitality industry.

Bethesda/Stamford. Marriott International, Inc. and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. announced today that the boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will create the world’s largest hotel company. The transaction combines Starwood's leading lifestyle brands and international footprint with Marriott's strong presence in the luxury and select-service tiers, as well as the convention and resort segment, creating a more comprehensive portfolio.
Combined, the companies operate or franchise more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide. The combined company's Pro forma fee revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2015 totals over $2.7 billion.
The deal is valued at about $12.2 billion. Starwood shareholders will receive 0.92 shares of Marriott Class A common stock and $2 in cash for each share of Starwood common stock. On a pro forma basis, Starwood shareholders would own approximately 37 percent of the combined company’s common stock.
Further details in our next issue on Friday! / kn

Geneva. Reto Wittwer is braced for a comprehensive legal counterattack. After a charge of fraud, which surprised the former Kempinski Hotels CEO last week, he brought charges of his own on Wednesday against the sitting Kempinski CEO Alejandro Bernabé and Supervisory Board member Michael Selby. The charges are for false accusation, slander and defamation.

Amsterdam. Buying, not buying, bidding, withdrawing from the bidding, just looking…rumor has it in the dynamic world of M&A lately and not many companies are eager to comment. IHG and AccorHotels, which are allegedly trying to acquire Fairmont/Raffles/Swissôtel are hyper secretive. So are Hyatt and the Chinese trio Jin Jiang/HNA/CIC, which are supposedly bidding for Starwood's well-known brands portfolio. It is no secret that the environment has been tough for the lodging industry lately, as the strong US dollar weighs heavy on the hotel business across the globe. So who is buying whom? Are rumors only rumors or becoming facts? Rumors are getting louder. So let's take a closer look at the market.

Munich. Since this week, the Mandarin Oriental Munich has defined 5 stars anew in Germany – and namely with the word "Class". The freshly renovated hotel with the first, refined Japanese restaurant by celebrity chef, Nobu, in Germany, as well as within their own group, with its new elegance and concept also would succeed in London or Paris. In any event, it has now managed to stand shoulder to shoulder with the European hotel hotspots. And it's demanding guests have always been looking to the lifestyle metropolis of Germany for big culinary "brands". The turnaround of a luxury hotel: Courtesy of sushi.

Berlin. Design Hotels is moving closer to Starwood: The consortium will receive its own microsite and its own access to the "Starwood Preferred Guests" loyalty programme.