In hospitality circles, Starwood Capital Group‘s Barry Sternlicht holds major swag. I don’t have to tell you that. He is repsonsible for the creation of the seminal W Hotels brand and made beds comfy again with the Westin Heavenly Bed.
He created Starwood Hotels & Resorts and led it for 10 years before ceding leadership prior to its sale to Marriott International some years later. Some would argue it was never the same after he left.
If you know me, you know I enjoy films and like borrowing from them to illustrate certain points. In the final scene of the 1953 movie, “Shane,” Alan Ladd rides off into the night as Brandon Brandon deWilde’s Joey character cries out: “Shane, come back!” Shane does not.
Maybe Barry Sternlicht is the anti-Shane, or maybe he never left at all. That’s because Starwood Hotels is now back and Sternlicht’s imprint is all over it. It’s partly why HOTELS magazine is recognizing him as its 2025 Corporate Hotelier of the Year. But not the only reason by a far stretch.
His story, which you can read in the link below, is fascinating. A billionaire now, he was not born into it. In fact, his childhood sounds more Mayberry than Manhattan, when he used to sell tadpoles for 10 cents a pop for pocket money.
Sternlicht has made a fortune in commercial real estate, but at his core he really is a brand guy and a design guy. There’s no arguing that he has put an indelible mark on the hotel industry and in Starwood Hotels 2.0, he is reprising his greatest role.
