Lost in Monday’s big news about Marriott International’s acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts was an announcement made by Starwood last week that it was expanding its partnership with Design Hotels to allow select member hotels to be bookable through Starwood websites, mobile apps and global network of Customer Contact Centers.
Design Hotel guests who book directly through Starwood channels are now able to receive select SPG benefits and earn Starpoints during their stays at participating member hotels.
The first SPG partner hotels include the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City; the C-Hotel in Lake Como, Italy; the Nira Montana in La Thuile, Italy; Ten Bompas in Johannesburg, South Africa; and the Kruisherenhotel Maastricht in Maastricht, Netherlands.
Starwood said it expects more and more member hotels of the Design Hotels portfolio to sign up over the next 12 months, with more than 40 projected to join by the beginning of next year.
The announcement was made at Design Hotel’s annual conference and is now included as one of Starwood’s brands on its homepage.
Although Starwood owns a 74% equity interest in Design Hotels, it has operated independently. With Monday’s news about Marriott’s acquisition of Starwood, it will be interesting to see how this relationship evolves.