W Hotels

W Hotels is an American hotel chain franchise founded by Starwood Hotels and Resorts but now owned by Marriott International operating around 70 upscale hotels and long-stay apartment facilities worldwide.[1]Globally, the 2024 Average Daily Rate was $321, and Occupancy 67%.[2]

History

W Hotels was launched in 1998 with W New York, a conversion of the former Doral Inn hotel on Lexington Avenue, Manhattan.[3][4] Barry Sternlicht, then CEO of Starwood Hotels and Resorts Hotels 1995–2005, created the brand.[5] The concept included dark, muted colors, brushed metal, hotel staff in black T-shirts, photographs, and a bar.[6] His demand for all-white bedding required manufacturers to develop white fabric that stayed clean without weekly dry cleaning.[5] Many properties are co-located with luxury apartments known as "Residences at the W", such as W Boston and W Austin.[7][8] About 3 in 10 W Hotels have Residences.[9]

The earlier W Hotels in the U.S. were renovations of existing hotels within the Starwood group.[4] Replacing the lobby with the "living room" concept, where guests could gather at the bar, differed from the traditional hotel.[5] Although W Hotels receives credit for the idea, the underlying concept was once common. In the 1800s, the lobby provided a social gathering point in most communities. In earlier eras, the bar was often unseparated from the lobby.[4] In 2001, Starwood added W New York - Times Square, a design model for the rapid expansion of properties in the United States over the next decade.[10]

W Hotels opened its first hotel in Europe in Istanbul in 2008. Within the renovated Akaretler Row Houses, a group of historic structures built in the 1870s to house the employees of the Dolmabahçe Palace.[11] Opened in 2009, W Barcelona hotel was W's first in Western Europe.[12]

In 2012, W Hotels opened its first property in Singapore — W Singapore-Sentosa Cove on Sentosa Island — marking the brand’s 43rd hotel worldwide and its seventh in the Asia-Pacific region.[13]

In 2016, Marriott incorporated the W chain into its own portfolio as part of its acquisition of Starwood.[14]

In 2024, the Delano Las Vegas, located within the Mandalay Bay, and owned by MGM Resorts International & VICI Properties, became the W Las Vegas.[15]

In December 2024, W Hotels opened W Prague at the Grand Hotel Evropa in Prague, its first hotel in the Czech Republic.[16]

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