Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide

In August 1991, the Carter Burden family (a member of the New York City Council) and the Ziff family (mostly known for publishing) founded the investment company, and Barry Sternlicht was appointed its head. The company was named Starwood Capital Group by the name of the Starwood area in Aspen, Colorado , where the Ziff family had their own home. Soon the Pritzker family joined them. Starwood Capital Group has begun buying real estate in cities such as San Antonio , Texas City and Colorado Springs . In a year and a half, Sternlicht managed to triple the initial capital of $ 60 million. In 1993, the company switched from apartments to hotels, selling real estate to Chicago magnate Sam Zell ^[6] . During the 1980s, the hotel market became oversaturated, and in the 1990s the price of hotels dropped significantly. In 1994, part of the Westin Hotel Co. chain was purchased, which included 80 hotels in 19 countries (the chain was fully incorporated into Starwood in 1998). The transaction value amounted to about $ 540 million and was concluded with the participation of Goldman, Sachs & Company ^[7] . In the same year, another company was bought, Hotel Investors Trust, for only $ 5 million, since it was on the verge of bankruptcy. This company included 30 hotels and casinos, from which Starwood inherited the listing on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker “HOT”, as well as registration in the state of Maryland from 1980. In 1995, $ 840 million was spent on the purchase of another 30 hotels ^[8] . In the same year, Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide was formed as part of the Starwood Capital Group holding ^{[9] [10]} .

In the 1960s and 70s, ITT was one of the largest US conglomerates, including (since 1968) the Sheraton hotel chain. By the mid-1990s, the corporation fell into decay, a significant part of its assets was sold out. In 1997, a fight broke out between Hilton and Starwood over the opportunity to acquire the Sheraton network. Starwood’s arguments were stronger, and by paying $ 10.2 billion for Sheraton, the company became the world's largest hotel business operator. The transaction amount was twice the market value of ITT shares, and it was also double the value of the entire Starwood company ^[8] . In 2000, shares of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide were included in the S&P 500 index ^[9] .

In 1999, the casino division of Park Place Entertainment was sold for $ 3 billion. The Sheraton chain included a group of nine elite Ciga Group hotels (Compagnia Italiana Grandi Alberghi), in 2002 4 of them were sold ^[8] . Also in 1999, Vistana, Inc. was bought, later renamed the Starwood Vacation Ownership, and the Starwood Preferred Guest customer loyalty program was founded ^[10] .

In 1998, Starwood and the German company Schörhuber Corporate Group founded the joint Arabella Starwood Hotels & Resorts chain, consisting of 43 hotels in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, as well as one in Spain and one in South Africa. In 2010, the joint venture was liquidated at the initiative of the German side ^[11] .

In 2015, the company replenished with 220 new hotels. At the end of the year, negotiations began on the acquisition of Starwood by another company in the same industry, Marriott International . Soon another bidder for the purchase appeared, the Chinese holding company Anbang Insurance Group , but in April 2016 she withdrew her offer, the shareholders meetings of Starwood and Marriott supported the purchase agreement. The transaction was completed in October 2016 ^[5] .

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide unites about 1300 hotels and resorts, but only 32 of them are owned or rented, the rest are franchised (642 hotels) or managed (608). Some of the hotel chains that make up the company were purchased, others were created by the company ^[3] . In 2005, the company owned 119 hotels, in 2010 - 65.

The company consists of four divisions:

• North and South America - the turnover in 2015 amounted to $ 1.472 billion, 719 hotels, of which 622 in North America;
• Europe, Africa and the Middle East - turnover amounted to $ 475 million, 261 hotels, 174 of them in Europe, 7 in Russia;
• Asia-Pacific region - turnover amounted to $ 287 million, 317 hotels, of which 159 - in China;
• real estate and resort complexes - the turnover amounted to $ 681 million, 15 objects ^[3] .

According to the results of 2014, revenue from own and rented hotels amounted to $ 1.5 billion, franchising and management fees brought the company about $ 1 billion, other services to hotels in the franchising system brought $ 2.7 billion ^[3] .

• Bruce W. Duncan has been Chairman of the Board since 2007. Born in 1952, he graduated from Kenyon College Kenyon College and the University of Chicago ^[15] . Member of the Board of Directors since 1999. In parallel, he leads the First Industrial Realty Trust, Inc ^{[2] [16]} .
• Thomas B. Mangas has been the Chief Executive Officer since early 2016. Prior to that, he headed one of the divisions of Armstrong World Industries , previously worked for 20 years at Procter & Gamble ^[2] .
• Barry Sternlicht was the founder and CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide from 1995 (when the company split from the Starwood Capital Group) through 2005. Born November 26, 1960 in New York, graduated from Brown University and Harvard Business School . He then worked at JMB Realty as a transaction consultant. In 1989, he participated in the purchase of a large portfolio of real estate in London, shortly after the conclusion of the transaction, the British real estate market collapsed; Sternlicht was fired ^[8] . After that, his collaboration with the Ziff family began, in 1991 he founded the Starwood Capital Group, and since then he has led the various components of this group of companies (and continues to lead the Starwood Property Trust Inc.). Member of the board of directors of Estée Lauder Companies and the Robin Hood Foundation, trustee of Brown University ^{[17] [6]} .

• Bristol (hotel, Odessa)
• National (hotel, Moscow)
• Cullinan Towers
• Imperial (hotel)

Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide on the website of the Securities and Exchange Commission