Pretty much on schedule, Starwood Capital did complete the purchase of Golden Tulip on July 31st.
From their press release:
Starwood Capital, through an affiliate, announces today that it has completed the acquisition of Golden Tulip Hospitality BV’s Franchise business, its Development & Representation businesses, Joint Venture interests, and the brands, trademarks and intellectual property of Golden Tulip, Tulip Inn and its related brands.
There still needs to be integration done to combine Golden Tulip into the Louvre Hotel Group’s franchise business – but I’m sure that will happen in due time.
One item the press release didn’t touch on is if Starwood Capital is actually going to be owning any of the actual Golden Tulip hotels. Originally it was stated that they were purchasing around 250 Golden Tulip locations (out of over 700 which the Golden Tulip brand managed), or if its purely a non-real estate purchase.
Starwood Capital is a very real estate heavy company, but their hotel group has been leaning more toward the franchise and management end of the business – and less on actually having complete ownership of the properties.
