I created W Hotels because every hotel lobby in America looked like a dentist's waiting room. I thought — what if a hotel felt like the coolest bar you have ever been to? That was the entire idea.
I started Starwood Capital with $20 million during the savings-and-loan crisis. Everyone was running away from real estate. I was running toward it with a shopping cart.
The same hotel room is worth $200 a night or $800 a night depending on the brand on the door. Real estate is a branding business. Most real estate people do not understand that.
We sold Starwood Hotels to Marriott for $13.6 billion. I started with one distressed apartment complex. That is what happens when you buy what nobody wants and turn it into what everyone wants.
The Fed is destroying the commercial real estate market. They raised rates faster than any time in history and then act surprised when buildings lose 40 percent of their value. This is not a mystery. It is math.
1 Hotels exists because I believe the next generation of luxury travelers want sustainability without giving up the thread count. They want to save the planet and sleep on great sheets. We built a brand for that.