Starwood Preferred Guest - Westin Beechwood in Dallas area repossessed

A Texas lender (CoServ Realty Holdings) repossessed the $43 million Westin Beechwood Fort Worth (http://www.starwood.com/westin/search/hotel_detail.html?propertyID=1368) hotel on Tuesday . . .

Analysts said [this] could be the start of a wave of failures for the struggling hotel industry . . . The expected wave of foreclosures will gather steam in January and February [of 2002] . . .

A spokeswoman for hotel giant Starwood . . . which manages [this] Westin but has no ownership stake in it, had no immediate comment on the development . . .

Experts See Wave of Hotel Failures in New Year: Yahoo News Story (http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/nm/20011204/bs/leisure_hotels_dc_1.html)

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I hope this is not the beginning of a string of failures.
First Six Continents comes into the Starwood picture and now individual properties are beginning to run into major financial difficulties.
If the Six Continents merge occurs, more properties will likely be shed.

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Got points ? Got smiles !

[This message has been edited by Stephen loves Starwood (edited 12-05-2001).]

Here's a link from today's Fort Worth Star Telegram.
http://web.star-telegram.com/content/fortworth/2001/12/05/business/fw010801-1205-XC001-3.htm

I can book this hotel online - is it still in operation?? Id hate to show up this summer with out a room.

Yes, it's still in operation. The foreclosure was the result of having both the hotel & golf course in the same loan. The golf course defaulted allowing the call of both properties. The hotel is still being managed by Westin/Starwood.

The property is still open and operating just fine. I took the wife there for a Valentine overnight and it was great.

Immediately recognized as an SPG Gold member and given upgrade to a very fine suite upon request.

This is a classic example of building a hotel for "future speculation", but the immediate downturn in the economy caught them. The Westin Beechwood is in a very high-growth area of Fort Worth that just five years from now will be home to many corporate campuses, commercial developments, and such. They should be able to stay in business this long I would imagine.

when you say "upgrade to a suite upon request" do you guys actually ASK for a suite or just ask for a Platinum upgrade??