Sorenson Tells Behind-The-Scenes Tale Of Closing Starwood Deal From Havana

Sorenson on stage at ASTA Global Convention.

After months of back-and-forth conversations with Starwood, and a bidding war with China’s Anbang Insurance group, Marriott president and CEO Arne Sorenson ended up negotiating the final bid for Starwood from a Havana hotel, he told a rapt audience of travel agents at the annual ASTA Global Convention in Reno on Monday.

In a fascinating peek into his world of high-level negotiations, Sorenson said the Marriott team was “just starting to get relaxed” about closing on Starwood, which he called an “absolutely fascinating experience,” when the Chinese jumped in with a higher bid. If the Chinese bidder had come back one more time, Marriott would have bowed out, he said.

As luck would have it, Sorenson was in Cuba when the deal finally came together, so he ended up putting together the winning Marriott bid in a series of conference calls from a Havana hotel.

“I said the phones MUST work,” Sorenson said—and so of course 20 seconds into the conference call the phones “went dark.” But a second line was quickly arranged, the negotiations went on, and the deal was done.

“For some time this is going to be the biggest deal ever announced from Cuba,” Sorenson predicted.

ASTA, meanwhile, took the opportunity of Sorenson’s presence at the convention to name Marriott as its Supplier of the Year.

Meanwhile, Anbang yesterday completed the acquisition of 15 of Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc.’s 16 properties from Blackstone Group LP, Bloomberg reported, citing “people with knowledge of the deal.”