Starwood, which was recently bought by Marriott International for $12.2 billion, announced the integration at International Luxury Travel Market.
It’s thought that up to 40 Design Hotels properties will be participating at this level by the start of 2016 and the global hotel giant said the expansion of the partnership means consumers will now be able to see Design Hotels as Starwood’s “11th brand”.
Since 2011, Starwood has been a “majority but passive investor” in Design Hotels, the Berlin-based distribution, sales and marketing affiliation for 296 hotels.
“This creates a special niche in our portfolio and offers more options for travellers to stay with us around the world,” said Adam Aron, Starwood’s interim chief executive. “At the same time, these independent, design-forward hotels will benefit from Starwood’s powerful loyalty and distribution platforms.”
Among the first hotels to operate on this basis include the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York; Ten Bompas in Johannesburg; the C-Hotel in Lake Como; Nira Montana in La Thuile, Italy; Nira Alpina in St. Moritz; and Kruisherenhotel Maastricht in the Netherlands.
ION Luxury Adventure Hotel in Iceland, the Tribe Hotel in Kenya as well as Grupo Habita’s hotels in Mexico will join by the end of the year and by early 2016, other Design Hotels members to sign up for the SPG partnership will include Town Hall Hotel in London, Gezi Istanbul, The Waterhouse at South Bund in Shanghai, New Hotel in Athens, Wanderlust in Singapore, Les Bains in France and Nest in South Korea.
Claus Sendlinger, founder and chief executive of Design Hotels said: “We are excited to see an initial selection of member hotels take the opportunity to join SPG and be among the first to benefit from our partnership with Starwood. We expect more and more to take advantage, with at least 40 member hotels projected to join by the beginning of 2016.”
Starwood insisted Design Hotels would continue to operate independently under the leadership of Sendlinger and that the move “does not change the business model of Design Hotels, whose sales, marketing and development teams will remain distinct”.
