Marriott International announced it had sold the famous St. Regis New York hotel to the Qatar Investment Authority for $310 million.
According to The Wall Street Journal, Marriott will still manage the facility despite the sale, continuing the company’s strategy of earning fees for licensing brands and managing properties for real estate partners.
The deal also helps Qatar add to its luxury hotel collection around the world, which already includes purchasing stakes in other properties in New York. With the new hotel on Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue, the Persian Gulf country’s portfolio in the United States is far more impressive.
The 18-story St. Regis New York was opened in 1904 and has become a staple of Manhattan over the last 100 years. The facility houses more than 200 guestrooms ranging in price per night from $779 to more than $4,000 for a suite.
In addition, the property is also the home of the King Cole Bar, the reported birthplace of the Bloody Mary.
St. Regis New York was acquired by Marriott International in the $13.6 billion deal for Starwood Hotels & Resorts reached in 2016. The St. Regis brand has expanded beyond New York City, with hotels in locations such as Shenzhen, China and Bora Bora, French Polynesia.
It’s been a busy month for Marriott, as the hotel industry giant announced earlier in October that it had reached an agreement to purchase the Elegant Hotels Group for approximately $199 million.
Elegant owns and operates seven hotels with 588 rooms and a beachfront restaurant on the island of Barbados, with the majority of the properties operating as all-inclusive resorts along the Platinum Coast of the island.
Marriott officials announced the company would renovate the hotels in the Elegant portfolio and begin operating them as all-inclusive resorts under one or more of Marriott’s collection brands.
