04-10-07 The Future of Disney Hotels

[Chuck Oberleitner]

Of Blue Sky and Hotels

By C. W. Oberleitner
April 10, 2007

While Disney scratches its corporate chin while contemplating a future filled with Disney hotels around the country, even as it lures luxury hoteliers to its resort properties, a major shift is taking place in the hospitality industry that just may play a big part in influencing Mickey’s long-term plans.

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[Crazy Legs]

Thanks for info

[cellarhound]

Hey, Chuck, I am glad to see you and I on the same page on what we have seen recently comming out of the news... Let's see if Iger connects the dots...

[CaliforniaAdventurer]

Disney's GRAND NEW YORKIAN, GRAND MASSACHUSETTSIAN and GRAND WASHINGTONIAN Hotels, eh?

Just kidding. But it seems a little limiting to stick to the GRAND COLLECTION names.

[NickCharles]

Disney buying Starwood would be horrible. It would ruin the Starwood chain. Please, no Mickey Mouse in Starwood Hotels. Someone needs to tell Disney and Jay Rasulo to keep their greedy, grubby hands off of Starwood Hotels.

[yoyoflamingo]

Originally Posted by NickCharles

Disney buying Starwood would be horrible. It would ruin the Starwood chain. Please, no Mickey Mouse in Starwood Hotels. Someone needs to tell Disney and Jay Rasulo to keep their greedy, grubby hands off of Starwood Hotels.

Or out of the boutique hotel business all together. Let's keep Disney in Disney please.

[DLForever]

I think it could work out for Disney, but the integration would be very tough to pull off. Disney might want to incorporate into Walt Disney Parks & Resorts the properties they want to convert into "Grand" type hotels (that name is so limiting, I would have more diverse names and call the hotels "The Grand Collection or something like that). These hotels would be made distinctly Disney. The rest of the Starwood Hotels could be owned by Disney, but ran by Starwood (or other seasoned hotel) executives. As Chuck says, it might be good to spin a brand off it it wouldn't severely hurt Starwood's offerings. Disney would also have the advantage of businesspeople earning points on business trips and then being able to redeem those points at Disney hotels on the family vacation. This could drive more loyalty to the Starwood brands and help them be successful. If you can get top executive talent and nurture the brands for 5-15 years they can become spinoff opportunities (not the Disney branded hotels obviously) giving Disney capital and enriching shareholders. As Chuck said, buying and refurbishing or rebuilding properties to "Grand" standards is easier than finding properties from scratch, especially in hot urban markets (NYC...etc.)

[RenMan]

Very interesting indeed...

Seems too coincidental. I wonder if there had been talk of this possibility before Ouimet left for Starwood.

Also, Rasulo mentioned the imagineers. I wonder if they've already done any proof of concept plans on an existing (Starwood?) hotel.