Marriott to Acquire Starwood - Moving Ahead

April 2016

On November 16, 2015, Marriott International announced the intention to acquire Starwood Hotels and Resorts for $12.2 billion with the transaction expected to close in mid-2016.

China's Anbang came in with an offer in March that beat Marriott's offer, Marriott came back with an even bigger offer and on March 28, 2016, Anbang came in with the highest offer yet for $13.9 billion. And on March 31 Anbang withdrew it's offer paving the way for Marriott.

In the beginning of March 2016, US and Canadian antitrust authorities approved the pending merger between Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Both Starwood and Marriott shareholders are set to vote on the acquisition on April 8, 2016.

If Marriott acquires Starwood, here are a few statistics that show the power of the two companies combined:

The combined company will make Marriott International the largest hotel company in the world with 30 brands across 100 countries, 5,700 properties, 1.1 million rooms and a combined loyalty program with 76 million members. Hilton will fall to the world’s second largest hotel company. Although they too could make a major acquisition in the near future. As of September 30, 2015, Hilton Worldwide had 12 brands spanning 97 countries, 4,525 properties, 750 thousand rooms and 48 million Hilton HHonors members.

What does this mean for you?

How this acquisition will effect Marriott Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) members is still TBD of course. But what we do know is that Marriott President and CEO, Arne Sorenson, will lead the combined company and that the company expects to maintain the current brands. Marriott recognizes that Starwood is strong internationally and appeals to a younger, hipper demographic - which is very important to Marriott. 

And Marriott also appreciates the strength of the SPG program, particularly how admired the program is by Elite travelers as well as the strength of Starwood’s credit card and other partnerships (Uber, Delta, Caesars, their airline transfer program, etc.). All of this obviously makes the SPG program very appealing and may instill a strong incentive to maintain that value as well as SPG’s loyal members.

Starwood disclosed in their own press release that for now, both companies and both loyalty programs will remain separate with no change to SPG program status, Starpoints, current promotions or reservations.

As a Marriott Rewards and SPG member, I feel strongly this acquisition will greatly enhance Marriott’s loyalty program.

For SPG members, we realize many are worried about the value of their SPG Starpoints and what will happen to the perks that they’ve become accustomed to once the programs are combined.

Elite level SPG members enjoy their luxurious suite upgrades and guaranteed late 4 p.m. check-out. Marriott on the other hand grants late check-out when available and treats their top-tier Elites to upgraded rooms, but rarely suites. Also, SPG Platinum is granted after 50 eligible nights. Marriott Platinum requires 75 nights.

And, if a conversion of SPG points into Marriott Rewards points occurs, we certainly hope it is fair. Remember that we value SPG points at about triple the value of Marriott points, which means a stay at a comparable Marriott hotel will typically cost you two to three times more points.

On a personal note, I hold SPG Lifetime Gold status so I’m among those worried about what Lifetime Elite status may mean in the combined program.

The Wrap-Up:

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