威斯汀酒店

威士汀酒店與度假村
File:Westin.gif
公司類型	旅館
成立	1930年
總部	美國，紐約
产业	連鎖飯店
网站	http://www.starwood.com/westin/

威士汀酒店是美國的一個國際性連鎖旅館品牌，它是屬於喜達屋(Starwood)集團旗下。威士汀是喜達屋集團中歷史最悠久的旅館品牌，而其據點分布是第二多的，僅次於集團中另一個國際連鎖品牌喜來登。威士汀的總部在美國紐約的White Plains。

威士汀鎖定的市場是高階的消費族群，世界各地的威士汀都是被當地機關瓶選為五星級的酒店。威士汀對於飯店地點的選擇偏好集中在城市中的中心商業區(不包含度假村)。

歷史

在1930年美國華盛頓州，兩家旅館業者決議合併，並將新旅館的名稱定為威士騰(Western)，這是今日威士汀品牌前身。當時的威士騰是三個家族合股的；分別是Thurstons、Dupars及Schmidts，威士騰在30年代就有擁有17家旅館據點遍及華盛頓洲，從西雅圖到艾福特都可見其足跡。不過當時的17家旅館後來沒有一家屬於今日威士汀集團旗下。其中有一家名為富蘭克林旅館在1980年被拆除改建成為47層樓的西雅圖威士汀酒店。

威士騰是最早發明飯店管理概念的公司，創辦人認為他們不需要擁有每一間飯店全部的經營權但他們可以負責飯店的管理。不過這只是威士騰在業界許多創新之一。就在威士騰轉形成飯店管理公司三個大股東之一的Schmidt家族決議退出經營，他們在1936年成立了一家釀酒場，當時美國剛結束禁酒令。

Westin innovations introduced in the 1940’s included a way to provide guests with instant reservations confirmations. The system was called Hotel Type and was the first in the industry. Another innovation in 1946 was the first hotel credit card. Is was accepted for room, food and beverage payments.

During the 1940’s, the company adopted a corporate symbol for their stationery, matchbooks and soap.

During 1954年 Western Hotels adoped a new name 威士騰國際酒店 to reflect its newly established international presence.

With its 25th anniversary in 1955, Western Hotels added two more innovations"

• Allowing children to stay for free when sharing a room with their parents; It was called the Family Plan.
• Confirmed Reservations Guarantee; if a guest had a confirmed reservation and the hotel could not accommodate the guest due to an overbooking, the hotel would provide a room elsewhere and return the guest to Western the next day.

1958年, Western expanded to Guatemala and Hawaii with the opening of the Hawaiian Village Hotel in Honolulu.

Western merged with UAL in the 1970 becoming closely associated with United Airlines as part of the a new company called Allegis.

In 1974 Western launched its Central Reservations Office in Omaha, Nebraska. It resulted from a joint agreement between Western and United Airlines and was called WESTRON. This was the system that later became the foundation for all hotel reservations systems, including Hyatt's and Marriott's.

The 50th anniversary of Western International in 1980 saw a name change to Westin.

Westin Hotels & Resorts was introduced in 1985. In 1987, Westin launched its very popular frequent guest program, Westin Premier.

In 1987 Allegis sold Westin to a partnership between Aoki Corporation and Robert M. Bass Group.

The early 1990s several innovations were introduced including:

• voicemail in 1991
• Service Express in 1993
• Westin Kids Club in 1994.

1995年, Aoki Corporation sold Westin to a partnership of Starwood Capital, Goldman Sachs, the Edward Thomas Companies and Nomura Asset Capital Corporation.

1997年, Washington State University received a donation of the records for the Westin Hotels and Resorts from the company.

1998年, Westin’s ownership changed again when Starwood bought out its partners. Less than a month later, Starwood purchased ITT Sheraton Corporation and became Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide.

外部連結

• 威士汀酒店官網