EyeQ Tech review EyeQ Tech EyeQ Tech tuyển dụng review công ty eyeq tech eyeq tech giờ ra sao EyeQ Tech review EyeQ Tech EyeQ Tech tuyển dụng crab meat crab meat crab meat importing crabs live crabs export mud crabs vietnamese crab exporter vietnamese crabs vietnamese seafood vietnamese seafood export vietnams crab vietnams crab vietnams export vietnams export

Breaking News

Jussie Smollett’s conviction for racist, homophobic attack hoax tossed in stunning reversal
Business

Tourists can’t get enough of America, and hotels see big bucks

By
Post Staff Report
Published Nov. 16, 2015, 11:02 a.m. ET

The world loves the US — and the hotel industry is trying to cash in.

With the number of tourists from overseas steadily climbing, Marriott International said Monday it has reached an agreement to buy rival hotel chain Starwood for $12.2 billion in cash and stock.

The deal, which will combine Marriotts two dozen brands — including Marriott, Courtyard, Ritz-Carlton and Fairfield Inn — with Starwood’s Sheraton, W, St. Regis and Westin nameplates, will result in a company with 5,500 properties and more than 1.1 million rooms. It will be the world’s largest hotel chain.

Hilton Worldwide will be No. 2 with 4,400 properties and 720,000 rooms.

The terms of the deal — announced before trading opened in the US — call for each Starwood shareholder to receive 0.92 share of Marriott stock plus $2 cash — equal to $72.08 a Starwood share.

In early trading Monday, Marriott shares were off 1.1 percent, to $71.95, while Starwood shares fell 5.6 percent, to $70.76.

Behind the consolidation in the US hotel sector is record hotel occupancy rates and rates.

Through Sept. 30, guests filled 67.3 percent of the available US hotel rooms, according to research firm STR. That’s the highest level since STR started collecting data in 1987. Guests paid an average of $120.35 a night so far this year — up from the previous inflation-adjusted all-time high of $119.70 in 2008.

Meanwhile, the number of foreign tourists visiting the US is growing strong, according to the Commerce Department in Washington. The number of overseas tourists visiting the US grew by 7.4 percent in 2014 from the previous year — and was up 69 percent over the last 10 years.

Starwood, unable to grow as fast as its rivals, announced back in April that it would explore strategic options for the hotel company.

There was speculation in the markets first about a potential deal with Intercontinental Hotels Group, owner of the Holiday Inn chain, and then Hyatt Hotels, but those talks didn’t pan out.