The lobby garden at 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay.
Melbourne, Copenhagen and Tokyo. Openings beyond 2025 include Cabo San Lucas, Mexico; Paris; Elounda Hills, Crete; Austin, Texas; Riyadh, Saudi Arabia; and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico.
The first Baccarat opened in 2015 in New York with a star-studded opening party that included the likes of Martha Stewart. Starwood says that the brand will be expanding into global destinations in the coming years, including Rome, Florence, Riyadh, Dubai and the Maldives.
Treehouse is more whimsical by design; it’ s a concept, Sternlicht once said, that feels more like home than a hotel—“ cozy, welcoming, warm and somehow familiar.” The first Treehouse opened in London in 2019 with more to come in Manchester, U. K., Silicon Valley, Miami and Adelaide, Australia, to name four.
The brands now under Starwood’ s guidance are, Sternlicht said, unlike the lodestar W. He decided to leave that brand alone.“ I didn’ t want to do another typical hotel brand after W. The world doesn’ t need another brand, it needs a better 1,” he jokingly remarked.
“ By reviving the Starwood Hotels name, we aim to marry this trusted legacy of youth, innovation, and guest focus with
our modern, tech-enabled, personalized approach to hospitality. As we take this next step, we’ re doubling down on our mission to inspire, innovate, and make a difference— for our guests, our partners, and the planet.”
AN OLD NEW PLAYER Sternlicht may not admit it but the Starwood redux could be a shot across the collective hotel industry bow, putting players on notice that a once-venerablehospitality brand house, with a beloved loyalty program adored across the world, is back on the radar.
It’ ll be up to Raul Leal, CEO of Starwood Hotels, to lead the company and do the quotidian heavy lifting.“ Starwood Hotels once disrupted the industry under Barry’ s leadership,” he said. Can they do it again?
Leal to now has been shy to offer specific details on what may be in the mixing bowl, beyond heralding the now Starwood’ s future openings and growth potential. At a hotel investment conference earlier this year, Leal said the company was waiting until the 10th anniversary of SH Hotels & Resorts to make the changeover to Starwood. Though not specific or promising anything concrete, he did postulate that there could be hotels in the market that may seek to convert under one of Starwood’ s current three brands—“ assets that have a brand that is obsolete or the owner wants a higher premium,” Leal said. He also did not rule
I DIDN’ T WANT TO DO ANOTHER TYPICAL HOTEL BRAND AFTER W. THE WORLD DOESN’ T NEED ANOTHER BRAND, IT NEEDS A BETTER 1
– BARRY STERNLICHT, CHAIRMAN & CEO, STARWOOD CAPITAL GROUP
May / June 2025 hotelsmag. com 33