Who Owns Aloft Hotels?

Aloft Hotels is an American hospitality chain based in White Plains, New York. The business idea behind Aloft was conceived in 2005 by Amal Abdullah.

The chain had several locations under different brands, including Sheraton, Westin, and W Hotels. However, the hospitality company planned to expand into the contemporary hotel niche.

Aloft Hotels opened its first hotel at the Trudeau International Airport in Montreal in 2008, before expanding globally. As of Sep 2023, the chain had over 220 hotels in 30 countries and territories. The brand launched Aloft Singapore Novena in Sep 2023, marking its entry into Singapore. It is the world’s largest Aloft Hotel. [1]

Aloft Hotels are uniquely designed to showcase the brand’s vibrant and flexible spaces. Each location offers an eclectic mix of local cuisines, culture, and entertainment. In Nov 2023, the chain opened the new Aloft Hotel at Fort Lauderdale Airport.

The 138-room property has an 800-square-foot fitness center, yoga terrace, rooftop pool, gaming area, and cabanas. Guests can relax, drink, or sample cuisines at the bar and the Re: fuel by Aloft breakfast joint on the second floor. [2]

Aloft is a music- and design-focused lifestyle and hospitality provider. The brand has been investing in its expansion since 2021. Its development pipeline had 47 hotels with 8,797 rooms as of Aug 2021.

However, Aloft Hotels pulled back on its pipeline pace. In 2023, the brand planned to open 17 properties, or 47% of scheduled locations. The chain will add 8 hotels in 2024 and three in 2025. Its North American home market takes the lion’s share, followed by Asia, Europe, and South America. But who owns Aloft Hotels? [3]

Image Credit: Nur Athirah Hamzah

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Who is Aloft Hotels’ Parent Company?

Aloft Hotels is owned by Marriott International, Inc., an American multinational hospitality conglomerate founded in 1927. The parent company is based in Bethesda, Maryland, and operates and franchises hospitality brands.

In Jan 2024, Marriott Int.’s worldwide system had around 8,800 properties with over 1,597,000 rooms in 139 countries. The company added 558 hotels with 81,281 rooms to its portfolio in 2023. [4]

Aloft is the Marriott brand that resonates with music fans and tech-savvy travelers but not the only one. The parent company owns 31 hospitality brands, including Marriott, Westin, Aloft, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Sheraton, St. Regis, W Hotels, Le Meridien, and Renaissance. In May 2023, Marriott International acquired its 31^st brand – City Express. The acquisition added 150 properties and 17,500 rooms into the parent company’s system in 2023. [5]

Marriott is committed to Aloft’s expansion plans. The parent company applies its signature Re: mix, Re: fuel, and Re: charge design principles and amenities in Aloft locations globally. In Dec 2023, Aloft Hotels by Marriott International opened Aloft Santo Domingo Piantini in the Dominican Republic. Its 192 dog-friendly rooms have ultra-comfortable Aloft beds, artistic Loft-type design, Re: charge fitness center and Splash pool, free Wi-Fi, and Re: fuel by Aloft. [6]

Aloft participates in Marriott Bonvoy, the global travel program from Marriott International with 196 million members. The program offers exclusive experiences on Marriott Bonvoy Moments and 31 co-brand credit cards across 11 countries. In 2023, Marriott’s team signed a record 164,000 organic rooms globally. The company closed the year with 573,000 rooms in its development pipeline. [7]

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Aloft Hotels Ownership History

Amal Abdullah conceived the idea behind Aloft Hotels in 2005. However, the brand traces its history to 1999 when Starwood Hotels and Resorts launched their W Hotels. In Sep 2005, Starwood introduced Aloft Hotels based on W to cater to business travelers. Starwood’s W Hotels opened the first Aloft Hotel in 2008 as “A Vision of W Hotel.” [8]

Aloft Hotels are distinguished by their urban design, unique technical aspects, and social atmosphere. The brand puts a fresh bent on amenities, with Splash, lifts, the Aloha Desk, and Re: charge as its defining features. In 2011, the company had over 50 hotels.

The chain posted significant growth in the first three years, making it one of the fastest brand debuts in hotel history. In 2016, Marriott International acquired Starwood Hotels and Resorts for $13.6 billion. The acquisition transferred Aloft Hotels ownership to Marriott Int. [9]

Aloft Hotels expanded its global reach as a Marriott brand. The brand entered the Saudi Arabian market in Sep 2016 and launched the Aloft Long Island City-Manhattan View Hotel four months later.

In Jun 2021, Marriott International opened Aloft Osaka Dojima, the company’s 70th property in Japan. With this opening, Marriott International cemented its position as the most brand offerings hotel chain in Japan. The company’s pipeline had over 30 hotels across 18 Marriott brands, including Aloft Hotels. [10]

Aloft Hotels Shareholder Structure

Aloft Hotels is a wholly owned Marriott brand. Marriott International operates and franchises Aloft Hotels globally. As of Dec 2023, Marriott Int. had 285,622,357 Stock A shares with one vote.

This figure includes 234,927,453 free-float shares. Marriott purchased 21.5 million shares in 2023 for $3.9 billion and 1.3 million shares for $300 million in Jan 2024, delivering over $4.5 billion to shareholders. [11]

Marriott International is a NASDAQ-listed public company trading under the MAR ticker symbol. Its shareholder structure includes insiders, institutions, and individual investors. The company has 1,776 institutional shareholders, who own 64.76% of common stock shares.

As of Dec 2023, Vanguard Group was Marriott’s largest institutional shareholder, with 7.35%. This investment group owns 20,981,207 shares. Blackrock is the second-largest institutional shareholder with 5.33%, followed by JPMorgan Chase at 3.65%, State Street at 3.5%, FMR at 2.61%, and Massachusetts Financial Services at 2.28%.

Other top players are Geode Capital at 1.7%, Jennison Associates at 1.57%, Morgan Stanley at 1.54%, and Fundsmith LLP at 1.52%. [12]

Marriot Int.’s insiders own 17.78% of the company. As of Feb 2024, David Marriott was Marriot Int.’s largest insider shareholder with 24,264,400 shares. He is an officer and the beneficial owner of over 10% of a Class of Security.

CEO Anthony Capuano is second with 131,308 shares, followed by CFO Kathleen Oberg at 54,290 and Director Eric Hippeau at 39,985. Other insiders owning shares include Officer Satyajit Anand at 29,752, Officer William Brown at 26,849, Director Aylwin Lewis at 19,962, Officer Rajeev Menon at 10,368, and CTO Drew Pinto at 11,815. [13]

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