Barry Sternlicht has created Starwood Hotels and Resorts in Fortuneville, which created successful brands like WOTELS.
Now he wants to do everything under the name of Starwood.
Sternricht has been reviving the Starwood Hotels brand nine years after the previous company sold to Marriott for $ 13 billion in the world's largest hotel chain. His current hotel company, SH Hotels & Resort, will take on the name of Starwood.
This is a sign that 64 -year -old Su turn Licht wants to reconfirm hospitality as a power of hospitality 20 years after his resignation from Starwood. Since then, he has been mainly focusing on Starwood Capital and has been a $ 115 billion private equity company that created the Starwood Hotel.
The hotel continues to be a part of the Starwood Capital business, and Sturnricht buys and sell them, just as having apartments and other facilities. But since 2015, he said he wanted to have another crack to mark the hotel management industry under the name of Starwood.
“I'm like a singer has one song,” he said in an interview. “I want two songs.”
Reviving the name of Starwood may seem like a small change in the magnificent plan of things. Certainly, Marriott was retired many years ago. But beyond his name, Sternricht believed that Sternricht would regain it and raise his company's profile and support hiring. He regained his brand last year.
This is the latest step in Sternrichit's campaign to build a new hotel empire. By the time Marriott acquired Old of Starwood, the company was supervising more than 1,300 real estate in 100 countries with brands such as Westin, W, Sheraton, and St. Regis. The new Reborn Starwood has three brands so far, and there are 14 hotels in five countries.
It will be benchmarked for what Sternricht achieved for the first time.
Stanricht, a real estate investor in the background, did not work in the hotel business before 1994, when Starwood Capital purchased Westin from a Japanese company before 1994 and started adding other chains. 。 In 1998, Sternricht created a W chain. The attractive lobby and bar have become synonymous with sophisticated chic.
He concluded a smaller details on existing chains such as Westin and Sheraton. “I'm like a style police, so people don't drift,” he said.
At a hotel in Westin, he introduced what is called a heavenly bed. Associates were initially sacrificed, but they were gambling by upgrading travelers' experiences.
“Changing all Westin beds costs $ 17 million,” said Sternricht. “It was the highest $ 17 million spent so far.”
Heaven beds quickly became popular, sold on Nordstromes, and led to rivals that develop their fluffy white mattresses.
“He was a person who really made the concept of a lifestyle hotel,” said Hospitality Consultant Bjorn Hanson, one of the Modern Hotel Business architects. “The industry was necessary for outsiders to say,” What is important for hotel guests? ” “
Sternlicht resigned in 2005 as a Starwood executive chairman. Ten years later, Marriott acquired Starwood after a fierce bidding war with a Chinese insurance company.
By that time, Sternricht returned to the hotel operation and created three new chains. One is a high -end Baccarat, and the location of the Manhattan features a gorgeous crystal chandelier for French glassmakers to license the brand. (Starwood capital once owned the company.)
The other is one hotel, which is a lifestyle brand that is intended for an environment with trees, stones, and green leaves that decorate the lobby. The third is a tree house. Sternricht explained as a playful brand with vintage styling to remind travelers about their childhood. And he said he was working on at least another brand.
The new Starwood plans to open 22 hotels in a pipeline until 2028, including a hotel in Austin, Texas. Creta and Seattle. Manchester, the United Kingdom, Miami tree house. Baccarat in the United Arab Emirates Dubai. Maldives and Rome. All three brands are expected to open a place in Saudi Arabia Riyad.
(Sternlicht did not intend to sell a hotel company, but added that he was considering selling a small number of parts to collect funds for international expansion.)
However, the hotel industry has been much more crowded since Sternricht built the original Starwood. His innovation has been absorbed by competitors, such as amenities, customer service, design, marketing, etc. All major operators have a lifestyle brand, and many independent boutiques opened.
But for Sternricht, the job itself is part of the motive.
“This is my passion,” he said. “It's fun to design a hotel and maintain a brand.”
