As part of a strategy to raise $500 million, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. has earmarked a group of individual hotels--including a few trophy properties--for possible disposition.
"This is the first stage of a multi-stage disposition of assets," says Ted Darnall, president of the real estate group at Starwood, in an exclusive interview with GlobeSt.com at the Lodging Conference 2004 at the Arizona Biltmore. Though Darnall declined to name the specific properties set to go on the market, he did say the White Plains, NY-based hotelier was seeking to shed smaller assets in secondary or suburban US locations that "don't fit our current ownership profile of urban assets and destination resorts." In addition, Starwood has identified a few luxury hotels in the US and abroad for potential sale--"irreplaceable real estate" in the hotelier's eyes.
