Who Owns Westin Hotels & Resorts?

Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain based in Bethesda, Maryland. The hospitality company was founded in 1930 by competing hoteliers, Severt Thurston and Frank Dupar. They formed a management firm to handle their properties, which later became Western Hotels.

In Jun 2023, Westin launched The Westin Hyderabad Hitec City, an all-women-managed Indian hotel. The 168-key hotel runs on green energy produced from renewable resources. As of Dec 2023, Westin had over 235 hotels and resorts in over 40 countries and territories. [1]

Westin has been the global hospitality leader in well-being for over a decade.

The hotel offers unique wellness experiences, including award-winning Heavenly Bed, WestinWORKOUT, and the Gear Lending program. In Jan 2023, Westin unveiled The Westin Resort and Spa, Himalayas, near the world’s pilgrimage and yoga hub. The 141-room hotel draws inspiration from the brand’s six wellness pillars. Each guest room features Heavenly Bed and Bath options and amenities. [2]

Westin stands out from competitors thanks to its wellness-focused hospitality. The brand is expanding its global market presence. In Feb 2023, Westin entered the Turkish market for the first time after opening The Westin Istanbul Nisantasi. The new 150-room hotel features WestinWORKOUT Rooms and Sleep Well Menu options. But who owns Westin Hotels & Resorts? [3]

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Who is Westin Hotels & Resorts’ Parent Company?

Westin is a subsidiary of Marriott International, Inc., an American multinational company founded in 1927 and based in Bethesda, Maryland. Marriott operates, franchises, and licenses hospitality brands. As of Jan 2024, Marriott’s worldwide system had nearly 8,800 properties with over 1,597,000 rooms in 139 countries and territories. [4]

Marriott Int. is one of the world’s largest hospitality companies. The parent company owns 31 iconic brands, including Marriott, Westin, The Ritz-Carlton, JW Marriott, Sheraton, St. Regis, W Hotels, Le Meridien, Renaissance, Courtyard, and Four Points by Sheraton. 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 leverages different strategies to increase its market share. Its Marriott Bonvoy loyalty program had 196 million members and 31 co-brand credit cards across 11 countries as of Dec 2023. In 2023, Marriott’s team signed a record 164,000 organic rooms globally.

This figure includes 37,000 rooms from its deal with MGM Resorts International. The parent company added 558 properties with 81,281 rooms to its worldwide portfolio during 2023 and closed the year with 573,000 rooms in its development pipeline. [6]

Marriott’s iconic brands guarantee its leadership in the hospitality sector. The company also relies on strategic deals with other players to boost its revenue. In Mar 2024, Marriott Int. and Victoria Park Hotels agreed to launch The Park Lane Hong Kong Autograph Collection in early 2025. The hotel will have 820 guest rooms. [7]

Image Credit marc babin — Image Credit: marc babin

Westin Hotels & Resorts Ownership History

Westin Hotels & Resorts traces its origins to an unexpected meeting between hoteliers Severt Thurston and Frank Dupar at the coffee shop in Yakima, Washington. Thurston and Dupar formed a management firm to handle their competing hotels.

They invited Peter and Adolph Schmidt to add their five hotels and established Western Hotels. At the start, the chain had 17 hotels. The four hoteliers were the original Westin owners.

Western Hotels had expanded into Vancouver, Oregon, Alaska, California, Montana, and Utah by 1951.

The company rebranded to Western International Hotels in 1963 to reflect its expanding market. The firm went public in the mid-1960s on the American Stock Exchange.

Western merged with United Airlines in 1970 but remained an autonomous, wholly-owned subsidiary. In 1981, the company shortened its name from Western International to Westin. [8]

Westin opened a new corporate headquarters in the Westin Building after rebranding. In 1987, United Airlines Chairman Richard Ferris tried to unify Westin with other travel-related companies to create Allegis Corp., a one-stop travel firm.

This strategy failed. Aoki Corp. acquired Westin in 1988 for $1.35 billion. In Nov 1994, Aoki sold Westin to Starwood’s parent company, Starwood Capital Group, and Goldman Sachs for $537 million. Starwood Capital assumed full ownership of Westin four years after purchasing the chain from Aoki.

Marriott International acquired Starwood Hotels and Resorts in 2016 for $13.6 billion. The acquisition transferred Westin ownership to Marriott Int. Before acquiring Starwood, Marriott had signed a management deal with Sunstone Hotel Investors to rebrand Renaissance Washington, DC Hotel as a Westin.

The parent company spent $80 million to renovate the 807-room hotel before reopening it as the Westin Washington, DC Downtown in Oct 2023. It features a hotel fitness center and Peloton suites. [9]

Westin Hotels & Resorts Shareholder Structure

Westin is a wholly owned Marriott Int. subsidiary and one of over 39 Marriott brands. The parent company operates and franchises Westin hotels and resorts globally. So, Westin’s shareholder structure is directly linked to Marriott Int. As of Dec 2023, Marriott Int. offered 289,485,338 Stock A shares with one vote. This figure includes 234,930,596 free-float shares. [10]

Companies buy back their shares to consolidate ownership, preserve stock prices and stock value, and improve financial statements. In 2023, Marriott Int. purchased 21.5 million shares for $3.9 billion. The parent company bought back 4.7 million shares of common stock in Q4 2023 for $965 million and 1.3 million shares for $300 million in Jan 2024.

Its shareholders earned over $4.5 billion through dividends and share repurchases in 2023. [11]

Marriott International is a public company trading under the MAR ticker symbol. Its shareholder structure includes insiders, institutions, and individual investors.

Insiders own 17.78% of Marriott Int. As of Dec 2023, John Marriott was the company’s largest shareholder with 7.609%. This figure represents 22,027,118 Class A shares. Richard Marriott is Marriott’s second largest insider shareholder with 4.2%, followed by David Marriott at 3.671%. [12]

Marriott International has 1,761 institutional shareholders. These institutions own 64.84% of common stock shares and 78.49% of the float. As of Dec 2023, The Vanguard Group was Marriott’s largest institutional shareholder with 7.26%.

This figure represents 20,981,207 shares. Blackrock is Marriott’s second-largest institutional shareholder with 5.26%, followed by JPMorgan Chase at 3.61%, State Street Corp. at 3.46%, and FMR LLC at 2.58%. Other top players include Massachusetts Financial Services, Geode Capital, Jennison Associates, Morgan Stanley, and Fundsmith LLP. [13]

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