SH Hotels & Resorts has revealed plans to rebrand under the Starwood Hotels name. The change will mean the revival of a hotel group name previously familiar to many travellers, until Starwood Hotels was acquired by Marriott in 2016.
Barry Sternlicht, CEO of SH Hotels & Resorts, revealed he had reclaimed the brand name in media interviews at the end of January 2025. Sternlicht was previously involved with Starwood Hotels, and after parting company with the hotel operating business, retained control of the separate investment company, Starwood Capital.
Revived after its 2016 departure
Following Marriott’s 2016 deal, the group retained all of the many individual hotel brand names, such as W, St Regis, Sheraton, Le Meridien, Westin, Element and Aloft. But it retired the group name, and behind the scenes, Sternlicht retained the option to reclaim the name in time.
Sternlicht, and his group CEO Raul Leal, both see the renaming as having positive benefits for the group as it looks to expand. However, for now, they say the company will concentrate on growing its global portfolio of properties by concentrating on the development of its three existing brands: Baccarat, Treehouse, and 1 Hotel.
The Treehouse brand caters to a younger guest audience, with the company describing the brand attributes as being somewhat cheeky, fun and quirky. The brand will take a significant step forward in the first half of 2025, with two new openings either side of the Atlantic. In the UK, Treehouse Manchester will launch, while Stateside a Treehouse hotel launched in Silicon Valley.
The Manchester hotel, a substantial refurbishment of the former Ramada Renaissance property in the city, will have 216 bedrooms. And looking further ahead, Treehouse is set to launch in Adelaide, Australia, Miami and Diryah Gate in Saudi Arabia.
For the 1 Hotels brand, upcoming openings include sites in the US in Austin and Seattle, plus a European launch on the Greek island of Crete. Also in preparation are developments in Copenhagen, Paris, San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, Melbourne and Tokyo.
Building the Baccarat brand
For Baccarat, there are hotels in the works in Dubai, the Maldives and Rome. And all three of the brands will shortly be making an appearance in Saudi Arabia, as part of the emirate’s push to drive tourism growth, with the support of many international hotel brands.
“Now is the right time to reposition SH as Starwood,” Leal said to one US hotel publication. “We have a lot of plans and surprises for Starwood 2.0.” That reboot could include further new brands, with Leal hinting that another brand could launch later in 2025. This would, he said, play to the demand for more lifestyle brands from consumers who are keen to discover new, different experiences.
