Starwood reborn

[ljmiii]

Not really MVC but it is good to read of Starwood's rebirth and certainly wish Mr. Sternlicht the best. I do miss SPG and there is now a huge space open to any hotelier who thinks of guests as their customer and not just as bait to lure hotel owners.

SH Hotels & Resorts Becomes Starwood Hotels, Marking a Decade of Transformation and Growth

www.starwoodhotels.com

 

[WBP]

Not really MVC but it is good to read of Starwood's rebirth and certainly wish Mr. Sternlicht the best. I do miss SPG and there is now a huge space open to any hotelier who thinks of guests as their customer and not just as bait to lure hotel owners.

SH Hotels & Resorts Becomes Starwood Hotels, Marking a Decade of Transformation and Growth

www.starwoodhotels.com

WOW! Nice to see the rebirth of Starwood, and the return of Barry Sternlicht to the hotel/hospitality space. Lord knows where this will go, hopefully, somewhere great.

Ironically, the architect of the Starwood Preferred Guest Program, David Flueck, is Senior Vice President, Global Loyalty, Marriott Bonvoy, at Marriott International. In my opinion, David had a true diamond in the SPG Program, which he conceived. I believe that the SPG Program was superior to many Starwood hotels, at the time. SPG, in that era, in my opinion, was superior to Marriott Rewards, but Marriott hotels were superior to Starwood hotels.

The new Starwood will have a long way to go, to even dwarf Marriott.

 

[dioxide45]

Perhaps it would have been better placed in the Vistana forum?

Vistana / Sheraton / Westin Timeshares

Discussions about the Vistana / Westin / Sheraton branded Timeshare network

tugbbs.com

 

[ljmiii]

Perhaps it would have been better placed in the Vistana forum?

Vistana / Sheraton / Westin Timeshares

Discussions about the Vistana / Westin / Sheraton branded Timeshare network

tugbbs.com

Yeah...I thought about putting it there but at this point MVW and Marriott Int'l own all the marbles.

 

[dioxide45]

Yeah...I thought about putting it there but at this point MVW and Marriott Int'l own all the marbles.

It probably would have garnered more interest over there.

While Marriott International and Marriott Vacations do own or operate all the brands. Vistana and MVC do still operate two distinctive programs. They just happen to share Bound as an exchange company.

 

[WBP]

Yeah...I thought about putting it there but at this point MVW and Marriott Int'l own all the marbles.

I’m glad you posted it in the Marriott Forum, as, for the very reasons you cited, Starwood Vacation Ownership brands, are now under the MVW corporate structure, former Starwood hotels (not, of the Modern Day Barry Sternlight era) are Marriott hotels, and both the Marriott and former Starwood Vacation Ownership products have ties to Marriott Abound, and Marriott Bonvoy.

That got me thinking about what may have happened to the St. Regis Private Residence Clubs. I’ve not had a chance to read this, or follow their pedigree:

Luxury Residence Clubs | St. Regis Residences & The Phoenician Residences

Explore our luxury residences and the generous privileges of fractional ownership and signature St. Regis or The Luxury Collection services become yours.

www.theresidenceclub.com

 

[SueDonJ]

Moderator Note: Although the Vistana timeshare brands (Westin and Sheraton Vacation Clubs) now fall under the Marriott Vacations Worldwide umbrella, here on TUG we are keeping the Marriott and Vistana brands separated into two forums because combining them under one would mean a single giant forum that'd wreak havoc for users and moderators alike. Generally we mods try to put/keep topics into whichever of the two forums is more brand-appropriate, including the existing hotel/loyalty program affiliations.

In reading the article linked in the first post in this thread and the related article from The Points Guy, and looking at the hotel brands listed in the box if you scroll to the bottom of this marriott.com page, it seems to me that the newly-reintroduced "Starwood Hotels" brand has nothing to do with either Marriott or Vistana. I *think* it's a totally separate company that comprises the 1 Hotels & Homes, Baccarat Hotels & Residences, and Treehouse Hotels.

But because mentioning "Starwood" conjures an affiliation that's more "Vistana" than "Marriott," I'm moving this thread to the Vistana forum for @DeniseM and the Vistana forum regulars to try to help us all figure out why this company (formerly SH Hotels) is choosing to confuse everyone in the hotel world even more than we already are.

 

[Eric B]

That got me thinking about what may have happened to the St. Regis Private Residence Clubs. I’ve not had a chance to read this, or follow their pedigree:

They still exist; There's at least one St. Regis NYC owner on TUG (@HedonisticEpicurean). Weeks there occasionally show up in ThirdHome, though I've never seen any Phoenician weeks.

 

[dioxide45]

I wonder if they will go down the path of Sonesta. I understand that Starwood Capital still owns a lot of properties that under affiliated brands of Marriott International. Is there a risk that they will take those properties and move them over to these new brands under the new Starwood Hotels?

Sonesta did this with the Kauai Beach Club property where they purchase the real estate but the property was still managed by Marriott International. There was an issue where Marriott International was in breach of the contract and Sonesta took control and moved it under their brand umbrella and it is no longer a Marriott resort but the timeshare is still managed by Marriott Vacation Club.

 

[rickandcindy23]

I cannot understand the Vistana name. It's okay to have resorts called Vistana, but to have Vistana as the name for all brands is like Marriott deciding to call it's entire system by one of the resort system names, like calling it Grande Vista Resorts, or Palms Resorts, because that is name of one of the original timeshares Marriott developed.

Vistana has several resorts in Orlando, most are just so-so and a lot don't have elevators. We could trade into those using RCI, but I have better options. The updates are as good as they could do, but there are better choices for Orlando.

Stupid name. Starwood was always better. Now I see why Starwood didn't want their name used by Marriott/ Vistana. When I think of Vistana, I think Orlando and whatever company started Vistana, and it wasn't Sheraton. I remember a presentation in 1997 that had nothing to do with Sheraton.

Westin is superior to Marriott on Maui, that's my opinion. I would much rather stay at Westin than Marriott. The studios are superior to anything Marriott has for a studio. I like the Lahaina and Napili one bedrooms but would always choose the Westin over those, size for size.

We stayed at a Star Hotel in Bologna, Italy. Beautiful hotel, nice rooms, great breakfast that we paid extra to get. I assume it used to be Starwood.

 

[bizaro86]

Figure out why this company (formerly SH Hotels) is choosing to confuse everyone in the hotel world even more than we already are. [/I]

I can answer this. Hotel management companies are hugely valuable. Their value stems mostly from being able to deliver customers to hotels. Marriott International bought Starwood and has gutted the former SPG program. So there are literally millions of customers with fond memories of how Starwood used to be.

Starwood Capital will have a head start building brand equity because of the positive feelings travellers have toward the Starwood name.

I'm honestly in shock that Marriott wouldn't have negotiated permanent control of the name Starwood for hotels in that merger. It seems like a crazy mistake to have made.

 

[ljmiii]

Sonesta did this with the Kauai Beach Club property where they purchase the real estate but the property was still managed by Marriott International. There was an issue where Marriott International was in breach of the contract and Sonesta took control and moved it under their brand umbrella and it is no longer a Marriott resort but the timeshare is still managed by Marriott Vacation Club.

Services Properties Trust (SVC) owns the hotel adjacent/commingled with KBC. They terminated their agreement with Marriott Int'l after Marriott failed to make payments due and reached an agreement with Sonesta to have them take over management of the property. It's now one of 17 Royal Sonesta Hotels that SVC owns.

 

[ljmiii]

Starwood Capital will have a head start building brand equity because of the positive feelings travellers have toward the Starwood name.

I'm honestly in shock that Marriott wouldn't have negotiated permanent control of the name Starwood for hotels in that merger. It seems like a crazy mistake to have made.

I don't think Marriott's reach was that long. Starwood Capital is/was bigger than Marriott Int'l and Starwood Property Trust is the largest commercial REIT in the US.

But it's not like I know for sure. For that matter they could have negotiated a non-use/non-compete that expired.

 

[dioxide45]

Services Properties Trust (SVC) owns the hotel adjacent/commingled with KBC. They terminated their agreement with Marriott Int'l after Marriott failed to make payments due and reached an agreement with Sonesta to have them take over management of the property. It's one of 17 Royal Sonesta Hotels that SVC owns.

Doesn't SVC own a large percentage of Sonesta International Hotels Corp? So the two are closely tied. and Sonesta wanted to add to their portfolio of properties.

 

[ljmiii]

Doesn't SVC own a large percentage of Sonesta International Hotels Corp? So the two are closely tied. and Sonesta wanted to add to their portfolio of properties.

Yes...and very much so.

 

[boraxo]

Westins on Maui and Kaui are better than Marriott options. In general Westin built higher quality properties from what I’ve seen (as did Hyatt).

 

[sjlola]

Moderator Note: Although the Vistana timeshare brands (Westin and Sheraton Vacation Clubs) now fall under the Marriott Vacations Worldwide umbrella, here on TUG we are keeping the Marriott and Vistana brands separated into two forums because combining them under one would mean a single giant forum that'd wreak havoc for users and moderators alike. Generally we mods try to put/keep topics into whichever of the two forums is more brand-appropriate, including the existing hotel/loyalty program affiliations.

In reading the article linked in the first post in this thread and the related article from The Points Guy, and looking at the hotel brands listed in the box if you scroll to the bottom of this marriott.com page, it seems to me that the newly-reintroduced "Starwood Hotels" brand has nothing to do with either Marriott or Vistana. I *think* it's a totally separate company that comprises the 1 Hotels & Homes, Baccarat Hotels & Residences, and Treehouse Hotels.

But because mentioning "Starwood" conjures an affiliation that's more "Vistana" than "Marriott," I'm moving this thread to the Vistana forum for @DeniseM and the Vistana forum regulars to try to help us all figure out why this company (formerly SH Hotels) is choosing to confuse everyone in the hotel world even more than we already are.

Yes; the newly-reintroduced "Starwood Hotels" brand does indeed include the 1Hotel chain. But as happy as I am to see the reintroduction of the brand, I'd caution former SPG members to temper their expectations unless you have a bottomless checkbook; these are really pricey boutique hotels (check out the room rates for island view at the former St Regis, now the 1Hotel Hanalei Bay ). I'm a self-admitted disgruntled former SPG plat, but there's a reason Starwood capital shed the former hotels; SPG was unsustainable which explains why Marriott, rather than the improvement of the loyalty program to the SPG level they initially hinted at, has in fact been devalued so as to be farcical.

 

[zentraveler]

Yes; the newly-reintroduced "Starwood Hotels" brand does indeed incheck out the room rates for island view at the former St Regis, now the 1Hotel Hanalei Bay )

I agree; a worthy exercise (and yes,). in the escalating and stratospheric cost of high end hotels.

WPV, has nothing like its former agreements with that 'property' (in several of its branded iterations with decreasing agreement value). At this point, it has a discount for $100 parking if you eat at a restaurant. At least as a couple of years ago. Fine enough if you want to see the new property and have a nice drink/meal etc with an incomparable view.

 

[sjlola]

I agree; a worthy exercise (and yes,). in the escalating and stratospheric cost of high end hotels.

WPV, has nothing like its former agreements with that 'property' (in several of its branded iterations with decreasing agreement value). At this point, it has a discount for $100 parking if you eat at a restaurant. At least as a couple of years ago. Fine enough if you want to see the new property and have a nice drink/meal etc with an incomparable view.

And from what I hear from North Shore locals, the 1Hotel Hanalei Bay is experiencing the same staffing issues that the St Regis suffered from: not enough of a workforce to adequately staff a high-end hotel. The hotel management has brought in converted shipping containers placed on an empty lot off Hanalei Plantation Road to house hotel workers. Crazy. My husband and I used to refer to the St Regis Princeville as a 3-star resort with a 5-star view. Never quite lived up to the points/cash needed for a stay.

 

[jabberwocky]

Services Properties Trust (SVC) owns the hotel adjacent/commingled with KBC. They terminated their agreement with Marriott Int'l after Marriott failed to make payments due and reached an agreement with Sonesta to have them take over management of the property. It's now one of 17 Royal Sonesta Hotels that SVC owns.

I stayed at a Royal Sonesta for the first time last week (Toronto). It was quite nice. The footprint isn’t as extensive for what I typically need - but it was a very comfortable stay and I wish they had more globally.