User:Netha Hussain/Westin Hotel and Resorts

Westin Hotels & Resorts is an upscale hotel chain owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. As of 2013, Westin operated over 192 hotels.

Early History
In 1930, Severt W. Thurston and Frank Dupar of Seattle, Washington met unexpectedly during breakfast at a diner. Both competing hotel owners, the two began in conversation and eventually decided to form a strategic alliance. With 17 properties, of which 16 were in Washington, they joined Peter and Adolph Schmidt and established Western Hotels.

Early management developed each property individually. After more than two decades of rapid growth, prompting a name change in 1954 to Western International Hotels, many of its properties were merged into a single corporate structure in 1958, and the company went public in 1963. In 1970, the chain was acquired by UAL Corporation. For its 50th anniversary in 1980, it changed its name again to Westin Hotels & Resorts (a contraction of the words Western International). In 1987, UAL Chairman Richard Ferris announced a plan to make UAL into Allegis, a travel conglomerate based around United Airlines, Hertz Rent a Car, Hilton Hotels, and Westin and linked by Apollo. This strategy failed, however, and Westin was sold in 1988 to Aoki Corporation of Japan. In 1994 Aoki sold it to Starwood Capital, real estate investment firm and parent of Starwood Lodging, and Goldman Sachs, an investment bank. In 1998 Starwood assumed full ownership of the company.

Westin claims to have been the first hotel chain to introduce guest credit cards (in 1946), 24-hour room service (1969), and personal voice mail in each room (1991).

Today
Westin markets certain amenities available in its properties to the public under the brand name Heavenly. In 2005, Westin became the first hotel company to gain a national retail store presence when Nordstrom started carrying the Heavenly Bed line in more than 60 stores.

Westin refreshed its partnership with United Airlines in 2008. United began offering pillows and blankets from Westin's Heavenly Bed line on select United premium service routes between New York City and California, as well as Westin decorations and scents in some Red Carpet Club lounges. These amenities were stopped following the merger with Continental Airlines. Beginning in 2013 Delta Air Lines began an extensive partnership with Westin and Starwood Hotels, this included adding Westin Heavenly In-flight Bedding to all BusinessElite seats on international flight as well as transcontinental flights.

Especially in the last decade, Westin has focused on expanding globally. Since 2005, the number of hotels has grown from 120 locations in 24 countries to over 192 locations in 37 countries as of 2013.