PHOENIX -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Trust said it will
acquire for $334 million the four hotels that lost their
Ritz-Carlton banners last August.
Starwood, based here, will reflag the New York property a Westin
and expects to rename the Aspen, Houston and Washington properties
St. Regis hotels.
The ITT Luxury Collection, which took over management of the
hotels a few weeks after the Ritz-Carlton cast them off over
longstanding disputes with the owner, will manage the Washington,
Houston and Aspen properties. The Luxury Collection also includes
New York's St. Regis hotel on Fifth Avenue and East 55th Street,
just blocks from the Central Park South hotel it will give to
Westin.
Starwood, which plans to acquire ITT Corp. next month, expects
to close on the purchase of the four hotels by the end of
January.
Starwood said it had been pursuing the hotels, which currently
are owned by Los Angeles-based Al Anwa USA, a firm controlled by
Saudi Sheik Abdul Aziz bin Ibrahim al-Ibrahim, for more than a
year. The sheik had left the hotels nameless after signing with ITT
Corp. last summer.
Westin Hotels and Resorts, which was acquired by Starwood
earlier this month, will hang its flag in New York for the first
time since it sold the Plaza hotel to Donald Trump in 1995. Westin
kept a marketing affiliation with the Plaza until 1996, however,
and currently has a marketing agreement with the New York
Palace.