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Old Nov 16, 2015, 4:19 am
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November 16, 2015
BETHESDA, Md. and STAMFORD, Conn., Nov. 16, 2015 /PRNewswire/ -- Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) and Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) announced today that the boards of directors of both companies have unanimously approved a definitive merger agreement under which the companies will create the world's largest hotel company. The transaction combines Starwood's leading lifestyle brands and international footprint with Marriott's strong presence in the luxury and select-service tiers, as well as the convention and resort segment, creating a more comprehensive portfolio. The merged company will offer broader choice for guests, greater opportunities for associates and should unlock additional value for Marriott and Starwood shareholders. Combined, the companies operate or franchise more than 5,500 hotels with 1.1 million rooms worldwide. The combined company's pro forma fee revenue for the 12 months ended September 30, 2015 totals over $2.7 billion.
Marriott Shareholder News Release :
http://investor.shareholder.com/mar/...leaseID=942791

Starwood Investor News Release :
https://s1.q4cdn.com/483583335/files...wood-FINAL.pdf

Marriott CEO Linkedin Post:
https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/marri...-arne-sorenson

November 16, 2015
Originally Posted by Official Starwood Announcement on the SPG website
We’re excited to share the news that Starwood Hotels & Resorts will join together with Marriott International to create the world’s largest hotel company. For our Starwood Preferred Guest® (SPG®) members, this will mean even more choices in even more places, giving you access to 1.1 million rooms across 5,500 hotels and resorts in more than 100 countries.

We will work to bring you the very best of SPG and Marriott Rewards®, two of the most rewarding loyalty programs in our industry. Our members are at the core of everything we do, and that will not change.

This is the beginning of a long journey as we combine our two companies. For now, we remain separate, and there is no change to your SPG program status, your Starpoints® or your existing reservations. You will continue to earn Starpoints and elite stay/night credit for your stays, as well as bonus Starpoints for any promotions in which you are participating. There is no change to how you manage your SPG account or book reservations.

Over the coming months, as we have more to share, we’ll be sure to reach out to you by email, at spg.com and via twitter (@spg). In the meantime, we remain at your service wherever you need us — whether in our hotels, at spg.com, on the SPG mobile app or via our Customer Contact Centers.

Thank you for sharing your travels with us.

Chris Holdren
Senior Vice President, Starwood Preferred Guest
November 16, 2015
Originally Posted by Official Starwood Announcement to FT members
Dear members,

Starwood Hotels & Resorts and Marriott International to Merge, Creating the World’s Largest Hotel Company, Best Loyalty Program

Today we’re excited to share the news that Starwood Hotels & Resorts will join together with Marriott International to create the world’s largest hotel company. For our SPG members, this will mean even more choices in even more places, giving you access to 1.1 million rooms across 5,500 hotels in more than 100 countries.

As we look to bring together the very best of Starwood Preferred Guest and Marriott Rewards, we are confident that together we will create the most rewarding loyalty program in our industry. Our members are at the core of everything we do, and that will not change.

Today is the first day of a long journey as we combine our two companies. For now, we remain separate, and there is no change to your Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) program status, your Starpoints or your existing reservations. You will continue to earn Starpoints and elite stay/night credit for your stays, and bonus Starpoints for any promotions in which are you are participating. There is no change to how you manage your SPG account or book reservations.

Over the coming months, as we have more to share, you’ll continue to be among the first to hear by e-mail, at spg.com and via twitter (@spg). In the meantime, we remain at your service wherever you need us—whether in our hotels, at spg.com, the SPG mobile app, or via our Customer Contact Centers.

[email protected]

Thyetus Lee | Social Media Specialist
Starwood Customer Contact Centre (AP) Pte Ltd
March 01, 2016
The U.S. Department of Justice and the U.S. Federal Trade Commission will not challenge the proposed merger between Marriott International and Starwood Hotels & Resorts. The waiting period for Marriott's filing with the FTC under the Hart-Scott-Rodino Antitrust Improvements Act of 1976, the merger's first regulatory hurdle, expired on Monday, meaning the deal is cleared to proceed. The Competition Bureau of Canada also will not challenge the transaction. According to Marriott, the companies are cooperating with competition authorities in other parts of the world to obtain approval of the deal. Marriott and Starwood will hold separate stockholder meetings on March 28 to vote on the merger.
http://investor.shareholder.com/MAR/...leaseID=958056
March 14, 2016
Announcement that a consortium including the Chinese company Anbang has made an unsolicited rival bid.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/14/starw...6-a-share.html

March 18, 2016
Starwood determines that the Anbang bid is 'superior' and notifies Marriott of the intention to terminate the merger agreement.
Marriott have until March 28 to make a counter-bid that is as good as or better than Anbang.
Starwood is postponing its stockholder vote, which was scheduled for Monday, March 28th, to a new date to be determined after consultation with Marriott. Starwood’s Board has not changed its recommendation in support of Starwood’s merger with Marriott.
http://www.cnbc.com/2016/03/18/starw...e-in-cash.html

March 21, 2016
Starwood and Marriott sign a revised merger agreement after Marriott submit an increased bid which values Starwood stock at $85.36. This is now the 'superior' proposal.
Under the revised merger agreement Starwood is not allowed to engage in discussions with Anbang. However, Anbang may make another unsolicited offer, up until the time of the Starwood shareholder vote, which is April 8, 2016.

March 28, 2016
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. said it received a higher takeover offer from a group led by Anbang Insurance Group Co., putting the Chinese company back into battle with Marriott International Inc. for control of the hotel operator.
Starwood said it’s in negotiations with the Anbang group after receiving a nonbinding offer of $82.75 a share in cash, or about $14 billion, according to a statement Monday. That compares with Marriott’s stock-and-cash offer valued at $75.91 a share, or about $12.8 billion, based on March 24th’s closing price. Marriott, in its own statement Monday, reaffirmed its commitment to buy Starwood, saying its proposal offers stockholders greater long-term value.
Shares of Starwood rose 2.4 percent to $84.06 at 10:29 a.m. New York time. Marriott climbed 4 percent to $71.35.
The new offer from Anbang, which is working with J.C. Flowers & Co. and Primavera Capital, shows the insurer won’t easily back down as it seeks to build its hotel holdings. The Beijing-based company last year purchased Manhattan’s landmark Waldorf Astoria for $1.95 billion, and is in a deal to acquire luxury-property owner Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc. for about $6.5 billion. Gaining Starwood would add brands such as Sheraton, W and St. Regis, as well as about $4 billion worth of real estate.
Starwood said it received a non-binding bid of $81 a share on March 26 from the Anbang group, which increased its offer after subsequent discussions. Starwood is negotiating terms of a binding proposal and said it will “carefully consider the outcome of its discussions with the consortium” in order to determine the best course of action for shareholders.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articl...er-from-anbang

March 31, 2016

China’s Anbang Drops Bid for Starwood Hotels
Operator of Sheraton, other hotels seen returning to Marriott’s previous takeover offer

http://www.wsj.com/articles/chinas-a...way-1459455942
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Starwood: "Marriott and Starwood stockholders approve merger"

 
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 4:58 am
  #31  
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Originally Posted by DudeE
If I understand, the spin-off was to be tax-free...
How is the $2 per share that $HOT is receiving going to be tax free? The stock swap yes, but not the cash.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 4:59 am
  #32  
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Originally Posted by Shareholder
So does this new group stay with the UA connection (Marriott) or work with DL (Starwood)?
I was wondering this as well. As a DL DM, I've benefited from the Crossover Benefits at SPG properties.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:01 am
  #33  
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Originally Posted by rwoman
I was wondering this as well. As a DL DM, I've benefited from the Crossover Benefits at SPG properties.
As this is not a 50/50 merger, w/Marriott being the acquirer and far larger company, I'm guessing most everything associated w/SPG gets wiped away in time...guess we shall see
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:01 am
  #34  
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Originally Posted by seawolf
DoJ - could you block this please?
Judging from the airline industry, they will approve the merger, maybe we see them appoving the merger with some conditions in certain markets, but in general, the DOJ seemed to be happy with the reduction of competition we saw in other branches of the travel industry.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:05 am
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Dang! I've been watching CNBC and they just announced it. You guys are way quick!
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:05 am
  #36  
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Originally Posted by UA-NYC
As this is not a 50/50 merger, w/Marriott being the acquirer and far larger company, I'm guessing most everything associated w/SPG gets wiped away in time...guess we shall see
I was thinking the same as well.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:05 am
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Originally Posted by stimpy
How is the $2 per share that $HOT is receiving going to be tax free? The stock swap yes, but not the cash.
I was speaking of the $7.80 attributable to the Vistana spin-off. Those proceeds are tax free from what I understand - and isn't a result of Marriott's contribution.

Marriott is kicking in 0.92 shares of Marriott plus $2 cash for every HOT share. I presume the $2 is taxable.

IMO not a very good deal for Starwood shareholders...especially since this stock was trading over $80 just recently and the above deal is worth about $72.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:07 am
  #38  
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Originally Posted by UA-NYC
I am keeping my fingers crossed for the Lurkers...this doesn't bode well for future FT participation
Lurker II has posted. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...nal-merge.html

But yes I hope they can stay in their jobs and with us post-merger.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:07 am
  #39  
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Originally Posted by stimpy
One more speculation. I'll bet that a bunch of the Starwood Luxury Collection hotels become JW's.
I do not see that, the LC properties are subject to special contract conditions and most of the properties do not want to be that close to a chain, hence the LC Branding made sense for them.

JW Marriott is not a real brand either, so combining them under the St.Regis brand would make sense.

On the other hand, Marriott has always stressed the importance of its family name, so I do not see them reducing the footprint any time soon.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:08 am
  #40  
 
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Marriott to acquire Starwood for $12.2B

Can't copy and paste links but now being reported on the press

Just checking on Marriott Lifetime status

Lifetime Milestones

• Platinum Elite: 750 nights + 2 million points

• Gold Elite: 500 nights + 1.6 million points

• Silver Elite: 250 nights + 1.2 million points

Last edited by neuron; Nov 16, 2015 at 5:37 am
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:09 am
  #41  
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Originally Posted by DudeE
I was speaking of the $7.80 attributable to the Vistana spin-off. Those proceeds are tax free from what I understand - and isn't a result of Marriott's contribution.
Sorry my apologies. I was posting too fast.

I'm off to breakfast now. There will probably be another hundred odd posts by the time I get back.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:12 am
  #42  
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Originally Posted by stimpy
Lurker II has posted. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...nal-merge.html

But yes I hope they can stay in their jobs and with us post-merger.
Well yes, they'll keep posting plenty well into 2016

But with the last Marriott official rep post 3 months ago, and an average of .25 posts/day over time, I'm unfortunately not optimistic that Marriott values the community too much
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:30 am
  #43  
 
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Inside Flyer reference

Originally Posted by stimpy
Lurker II has posted. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/starw...nal-merge.html

But yes I hope they can stay in their jobs and with us post-merger.
There can be no doubt that SPG's social media footprint is better than Marriott's.

Also, for those of you who are in denial of how SPG compares to other FF programs, Inside Flyer published a review last year and Starwood received an A rating:

http://insideflyer.boardingarea.com/...eferred-guest/
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:38 am
  #44  
 
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Originally Posted by stimpy
Sorry my apologies. I was posting too fast.

I'm off to breakfast now. There will probably be another hundred odd posts by the time I get back.
No worries - the Vistana bit escaped me too until JK kindly posted the press release.

Market seems to agree it's a bad deal - HOT trading down to $72 in the pre-market.
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Old Nov 16, 2015, 5:39 am
  #45  
 
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I saw this buried down in the press release:

Leading Loyalty Programs: Today, Marriott Rewards, with 54 million members, and Starwood Preferred Guest, with 21 million members, are among the industry's most-awarded loyalty programs, driving significant repeat business. They should be even stronger when the companies merge.
So maybe there is hope that there will be 2 programs.
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