There’s a rumor of Marriott buying Rosewood hotels, and I think it’s a hoax. It would be huge if true.
Rosewood is one of the strongest luxury brands in the world. Of course, if Marriott were to acquire them you’d expect they wouldn’t be fully Bonvoy-participating – it’s hard to see reasonable points redemptions and confirmed elite upgrades based on stays throughout the year at Fairfield or City Express properties.
And Rosewood is definitely exploring deals. They’re reportedly exploring a partial sale or sale of some assets driven by liquidity pressure at New World Development corporation.
However, the South China Morning Post is explicit that while some hotel properties could be sold, the brand itself is not for sale – and that’s presumably what Marriott would want. Noting that the Rosewood London is for sale, Rosewood itself says the brand itself is not available.
- Marriott is aggressively asset-light, reporting that they own fewer than 1% of the properties in their system.
- When they do a deal, it’s generally for the brand and IP, while the hotels remain owned by the seller or by franchisees.
Marriott acquiring the Rosewood brand wouldn’t be crazy. Marriott buying Rosewood real estate would be a big departure from their model.
Promoting the rumor, though, is a screenshot that purports to be a snippet of an internal Marriott e-mail about the deal. I believe it’s a fake.
This just isn’t how deal counsel would write. “Submit documents to FTC and DOJ to secure their approval” is weird. There’d be a notification process and waiting period. And the February 28 deadline for approval of this deal that hasn’t been announced seems arbitrary. And why do they care about the stock performance of specific Hong Kong-listed companies, in an internal discussion laying out document processes? (And if this was about insider trading, it would be a clear message about insider trading and blackout periods.)
The whole thing, Marriott lawyers telling other Marriott lawyers to treat this with the “highest confidentiality” and that i’ts a “critical strategic acquisition initiative” just has hoax vibes. It’s both grandiose and generic at the same time.
And yet I suppose I could be wrong! Still, I’d put the odds that this specific ‘leak’ is true and that this leaked email is real, in the low single digit percentages.
