A change of face for Starwood

Starwood Hotels & Resorts has taken the first steps to spinning off its vacation ownership unit into a separate publicly traded company.

In the process it will change its name from Starwood Vacation Ownership to Vistana Signature Experiences, Inc.
The business was previously known as Vistana prior to the Starwood acquisition in 1999.

Starwood has filed its intention to spin off the business with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and expects to complete the process later this year.

“Today’s filing is a pivotal step toward the planned spin-off of our vacation ownership business, which will allow us to continue participating in the timeshare industry while seeking to create stockholder value for both companies,” said Starwood’s acting CEO Adam Aron.

“The spin-off will also further advance our asset light strategy with the planned contribution of five Starwood-owned resort assets to create future timeshare inventory.”

Vistana Signature Experiences will initially have 22 resorts in the US, Mexico and the Caribbean and plans to transfer another five Starwood operated Westin and Sheraton resorts to the vacation ownership portfolio.