Marriott International is buying Starwood Hotels & Resorts for $12.2bn (£8bn).
The deal will secure Marriot’s position as the world’s largest hotelier, ahead of Hilton Worldwide, which has 4,400 properties.
It will increase the number of hotels either operated or franchised by Marriott to more than 5,500, totalling 1.1m bedrooms, across brands including Starwood’s W, Sheraton and St Regis and Marriot’s Ritz-Carlton and Fairfield Inn.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts mooted options for a sale in April this year, when chairman Bruce Duncan announced plans to explore a “range of strategic and financial alternatives to increase shareholder value”.
Both Holiday Inn owner Intercontinental Hotels Group and a joint venture between Hyatt and a trio of Chinese investors were also reportedly vying to buy Starwood.
