My friend recently asked me if she should pay for a Marriott stay using her American Express SPG card. As of today, I would say yes. Today, it was announced that American Express SPG cardholders who use their card for their hotel bill at a Marriott or Ritz property, would be able to earn the […]
Category: Starwood News
The Marriott Starwood Merger Is Complete-What Does That Mean For Us?
It’s official! Marriott International and Starwood Hotels and Resorts merged into one company. Now members of SPG, Marriott Rewards and The Ritz Carlton Rewards are able to link their accounts at members.marriott.com. Despite the union, Marriott doesn’t expect to have a fully combined loyalty program until 2018, so the loyalty programs are still separate […]
April 9th Email From Marriott About The Merger
Shareholder approval for the merger happened yesterday. Today, Marriott sent the below email about the upcoming merger… “We’re excited to announce that we’ve secured shareholder approval for Marriott International to join together with Starwood Hotels & Resorts—a significant milestone towards creating the world’s largest lodging company and strongest loyalty program in the industry. Since we […]
Marriott And Starwood Shareholders Approve The Merger
Yesterday, shareholders of Marriott International and Starwood Hotels and Resorts voted to approve the merger between the two companies that will create the largest hotel chain in the world. Recall Marriott recently won the bidding war to acquire Starwood and this approval was the next step in the merger process. Onward they go… […]
Anbang Is Abandoning It’s $14 Billion Bid
The saga continues and it looks like its over. Anbang is abandoning its $14 billion bid for Starwood “due to various market conditions.” It looks like Marriott will once again come in, and this time at the higher $13.6 billion offer that it had to come up with when Anbang started the bidding war. The […]
Starwood Gets Higher Offer Once Again From China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co.
Once again, China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. offered a superior competing bid to Marriott’s bid. This time Anbang made a 14 billion dollar bid which exceeded Marriott’s latest 13.6 billion dollar bid. Starwood is considering the offer and I look forward to seeinf what Marriott’s next move will be. However, some lodging analysts think that […]
Marriott Wins Bidding War For Starwood
Recall last November, Marriott and Starwood announced a merger. The deal was set to close at the end of this month, but earlier this week there was another offer for Starwood. A group led by China’s Anbang Insurance Group Co. offered a superior competing bid to acquire Starwood. Marriott had a few days to counter […]
2016 SPG Category Changes
Every year Starwood Preferred Guest makes category changes to it’s properties. This year the changes will take effect on March 1, 2016. You can review these changes here. If somewhere you want to book is moving up, you can still book at the current redemption rate before the 2016 […]
The email From Marriott About The Merger
“As a valued member, we’re excited to share the news that Marriott International will join together with Starwood Hotels & Resorts to create the world’s largest hotel company. For our Marriott Rewards members, this will mean even more choices in even more places, giving you access to 1.1 million rooms across 5,500 hotels in […]
Marriott Buys Starwood-11/16/2015
After lots and lots of rumors as to who was going to buy Starwood, it was announced today that the winner is Marriott at a price of $12.2 billion. This acquisition, will make this the biggest hotel company in the world. Together, the companies will operate or franchise 5,500 hotels with a total […]