 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Hospitality |
| Founded | 1930; 95 years ago (1930) |
| Founder | Severt W. Thurston, Frank Dupar |
| Headquarters | Bethesda, Maryland, United States |
Number of locations | 250[1] (March 2025) |
Area served | Worldwide |
| Products | Hotels |
| Parent | Marriott International |
| Subsidiaries | Element by Westin |
| Website | westin.marriott.com |
Westin Hotels & Resorts is an American upscale hotel chain owned byMarriott International. As of June 30, 2020[update], the Westin Brand has 226 properties with 82,608 rooms in multiple countries in addition to 58 hotels with 15,741 rooms in the pipeline.[2]
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In 1930, Severt W. Thurston and Frank Dupar ofSeattle, Washington met unexpectedly during breakfast at the coffee shop of the Commercial Hotel inYakima, Washington. The competing hotel owners decided to form a management company to handle all their properties, and help deal with the crippling effects of the ongoingGreat Depression.[3] The men invited Peter and Adolph Schmidt, who operated five hotels in the Puget Sound area, to join them, and together they establishedWestern Hotels.[3] The chain consisted of 17 properties – 16 inWashington and one inBoise, Idaho.[3]
Western Hotels expanded toVancouver, British Columbia andPortland, Oregon in 1931, to Alaska in 1939, and then to California in 1941, assuming management of theSir Francis Drake Hotel the day after Pearl Harbor was bombed. Western added properties in Utah in 1949 and Montana in 1950.[3]
Western Hotels executiveEdward Carlson convinced Victor "Trader Vic" Bergeron to open his first franchisedTrader Vic's location in the chain's Benjamin Franklin Hotel in Seattle in 1949. Originally a small bar namedThe Outrigger, it was expanded into a full restaurant in 1954 and renamedTrader Vic's in 1960.[4] Due to the restaurant's success, Bergeron worked with Western Hotels to open Trader Vic's locations in a number of its hotels.
In 1955, Western Hotels assumed management of the landmarkOlympic Hotel in Seattle. It became the chain's new flagship, and the headquarters and executive offices were moved from the New Washington Hotel to a newly-decorated suite of offices on the 12th floor of the Olympic, in celebration of the chain's 25th anniversary.[5] Western Hotels expanded toHawaii in 1956, assuming management of theHawaiian Village Hotel, built byHenry J. Kaiser.
Early management developed each property individually. After more than two decades of rapid growth, many of its properties were merged into a single corporate structure in 1958, focusing on bringing the hotels together under a common chain identity.[3] Also in 1958, Western Hotels assumed management of three hotels in Guatemala, its first properties outside the US and Canada. Western opened its first hotel in Mexico in 1961. In March of that same year, they opened the first hotel to be both constructed and owned by the chain,The Bayshore Inn in Vancouver.[6]
Edward Carlson became President of the chain in 1960 and is credited with bringing theCentury 21 Exposition to Seattle in 1962.[7] Carlson's own napkin sketch of a tower with a revolving restaurant on top, inspired by his visit to theStuttgart TV Tower, was the origin of the Space Needle.[8] The chain managed the restaurant atop theSpace Needle from its opening until 1982. Western Hotels also managed a floating hotel aboard the ocean linerQSMV Dominion Monarch, docked in Seattle harbor during the fair.[9]
The company was renamedWestern International Hotels in January 1963, to reflect its growth outside the US.[3] In the mid-1960s, the company became publicly-held, trading its shares on theAmerican Stock Exchange.[10]
From November 1, 1965, to 1970, Western International had an agreement with Hotel Corporation of America (today known as Sonesta), under which all 72 hotels of the two chains were jointly marketed asHCA and Western Hotels.[3][11] From 1968 to 1973, Western International had a similar joint marketing agreement with UK-basedTrust House Hotels. In 1970, Western International was acquired byUAL Corporation, with Edward Carlson becoming president and CEO of UAL, Inc and United Airlines.
Western International bought New York's iconicPlaza Hotel in 1975 for $25 million.[12]
On January 5, 1981, the company changed its name again toWestin Hotels (a contraction of the words Western International).[13] The chain's flagship Washington Plaza Hotel in Seattle was the first property to be rebranded, becomingThe Westin Hotel on September 1, 1981.[14] That same year, Westin opened a new corporate headquarters directly across the street in theWestin Building, which shared a parking garage with the hotel.[15]
In 1987, UAL chairman Richard Ferris announced a plan to reorganize UAL as Allegis Corporation, a travelconglomerate based aroundUnited Airlines,Hertz Rent a Car,Hilton International Hotels, and Westin and linked byApollo. This strategy failed, however, and Allegis sold Westin in 1988 to the JapaneseAoki Corporation for $1.35 billion.[16] Aoki immediately sold the Plaza Hotel toDonald Trump for $390 million.[17]
In 1994, Aoki agreed to sell Westin to real estate investment firmStarwood Capital Group (parent ofStarwood) andGoldman Sachs at an enormous loss, for $561 million, but by the time the sale closed in May 1995, the buyers had negotiated the price down to $537 million.[18] In 1998, Starwood assumed full ownership of the company.[3]
In 2016,Marriott International acquiredStarwood, becoming the world's largest hotel company.[19]
Westin was the first hotel chain to introduce guest credit cards (in 1946), 24-hour room service (1969), and personal voice mail in each room (1991).[20] In 1999, Westin began selling theHeavenly Bed mattresses featured in Westin properties, and manufactured bySimmons Bedding Company, to the general public. In 2005, Westin partnered withNordstrom, which carried the mattresses and bedding in its stores. In 2011, Westin began selling theHeavenly mattresses and bedding atPottery Barn stores.[21]
| North America | Europe | Middle E. & Africa | Asia & Pacific | Caribbean Latin Am. | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016[22] | Properties | 125 | 19 | 9 | 51 | 13 | 217 |
| Rooms | 51,705 | 6,241 | 2,934 | 16,299 | 4,070 | 81,249 | |
| 2017[23] | Properties | 128 | 19 | 9 | 53 | 12 | 221 |
| Rooms | 52,722 | 6,183 | 2,934 | 16,704 | 3,645 | 82,188 | |
| 2018[24] | Properties | 129 | 19 | 7 | 56 | 12 | 223 |
| Rooms | 52,955 | 6,125 | 1,839 | 17,595 | 3,639 | 82,153 | |
| 2019[25] | Properties | 130 | 18 | 7 | 58 | 12 | 225 |
| Rooms | 53,097 | 6,024 | 1,839 | 17,872 | 3,640 | 82,472 | |
| 2020[26] | Properties | 130 | 17 | 7 | 58 | 13 | 225 |
| Rooms | 52,705 | 5,686 | 1,839 | 17,751 | 3,819 | 81,800 | |
| 2021[27] | Properties | 133 | 18 | 7 | 61 | 13 | 232 |
| Rooms | 54,009 | 5,973 | 1,838 | 18,478 | 3,813 | 84,111 | |
| 2022[28] | Properties | 132 | 18 | 8 | 63 | 14 | 235 |
| Rooms | 53,756 | 5,968 | 2,030 | 19,450 | 3,955 | 85,159 | |
| 2023[29] | Properties | 134 | 17 | 8 | 69 | 15 | 243 |
| Rooms | 54,820 | 5,787 | 2,030 | 21,173 | 4,347 | 88,157 |
Hotel Corporation of America and….Western International Hotels…. each have a 50 per cent interest in the newly formed marketing subsidiary named HCA and Western Hotels.
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