In total, 30 hotel brands now fall under the Marriott umbrella to create the largest hotel chain in the world with more than 5,700 properties and 1.1 million rooms in more than 110 countries. That’s more than 1 out of every 15 hotel rooms around the globe. Marriott International closed Friday morning on its $13 billion (U.S.) acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, bringing together its Marriott, Courtyard and Ritz Carlton brands with Starwood’s Sheraton, Westin, W and St. Regis properties. Starwood’s guest loyalty program — Starwood Preferred Guest — was also a “central, strategic rationale for the transaction,” Sorenson said. To get Starwood, Marriott had to outbid China’s Anbang Insurance Group.

Source: thestar September 23, 2016 17:03 UTC