---

The Blackstone Group

NYSE: BX | blackstone.com | Hoover's profile

Blackstone is a private equity group (with publicly-traded stock) which has been purchasing hotels recently.

Based in New York, NY, Blackstone was founded in 1985 by Peter G. Peterson and Stephen A Schwarzman. Other holdings include Houghton Mifflin and Universal Studios Florida.

Blackstone owns:

• Prime Hospitality Corporation. Bought in 2004 for $790 million. Brands: Prime Hotels, Wellesley Inns & Suites (now part of La Quinta, no properties in Las Vegas).
• La Quinta Corporation. Bought in 2005. Dallas-based La Quinta has the brands: La Quinta and Woodfield Suites.
• LXR Luxury Resorts and Hotels. In 2005, Blackstone bought Wyndham International Inc. (AMEX: WBR)for $3.24 billion. (This is a different company from Wyndham Worldwide Corp.) Based in Dallas, Wyndham owned and leased 32 hotels. Held by private equity firms Apollo, Beacon Capital, TH Lee. Half the hotels were sold to Columbia Sussex in Oct 2005; the rest were rebranded as LXR Luxury Resorts and Hotels (no properties in Las Vegas).
• Travelport. Bought in July 2006 from Cendant, now Wyndham. Travelport includes Orbitz online travel agency and Galileo.
• MeriStar Hospitality Corp. Bought in 2006 for $2.6 billion. Based in Bethesda, MD and founded in 1988, MeriStar was one of the largest hotel real estate investment trusts (REIT).
• Hilton Hotels Corporation. Bought in 2007 for $26 billion. Hilton's brands include Hilton, Conrad Hotels & Resorts, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations, Homewood Suites by Hilton, and The Waldorf=Astoria Collection.
• Extended Stay, Inc. Owned with Paulson & Co. and Centerbridge Partners. Bought in May 2010 for $3.9 billion out of bankruptcy. Blackstone had sold Extended Stay for $8 billion in 2007 to a group of investors led by The Lightstone Group but the chain went into bankruptcy in June 2009. Extended Stay has four hotels in Las Vegas under the brands Homestead Studio Suites, Extended Stay Deluxe, and Extended Stay America.

Blackstone has sold:

• AmeriSuites. Founded by Mark Yale Harris in 1991. Sold in 1998, maybe to Prime Hospitality which was bought by Blackstone in 2004. Sold in 2004 to Global Hyatt which renamed the chain Hyatt Place.
• Savoy Group. The owned of London luxury hotels including Claridge's was sold in 2004 to an Irish investment group.

About Hilton

hiltonworldwide.com | Hoovers profile

Based in Beverly Hills, California, Hilton Hotels is one of the world's largest hotel chains. Brands include: Conrad, Doubletree, Embassy Suites, Hampton Inn, Hilton, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations (timeshares), Homewood Suites. Founded in 1946 in Texas by Conrad Hilton (1887-1979) whose son, William Barron Hilton, is currently the co-chairman. Hilton Hotels owns, manages, and franchises hotels — the company does not own the Las Vegas Hilton but has licensed the brand name to owner Resorts International Entertainment (subsidiary of Colony Capital) through 2008. Similarly, Majestic Resorts is building a high-end Conrad hotel with Waldorf=Astoria Residences in The Conrad Majestic (2009).

Hilton has a significant history in Las Vegas. Barron and Conrad Hilton were, along with William Harrah, instrumental in changing state law in 1967 to allow publicly-traded corporations to own casinos. In 1970, Hilton Corp. bought, from Kirk Kerkorian, the Flamingo (renamed the Flamingo Hilton) and the International (renamed the Hilton in 1971). In 1996, Hilton bought Bally Entertainment, including Bally's and the under-construction Paris Las Vegas. Hilton spun off its casino arm in 1998 as Park Place Entertainment Corporation (owning Bally's, the Flamingo, the Hilton, and Paris). Park Place acquired Caesars World, Inc. (owner of Caesars Palace) in 1999 for $3 billion and changed its name in 2004 to Caesars Entertainment, Inc. They sold the Las Vegas Hilton in 2004 to Colony Capital of Los Angeles (the Hilton name is licensed to Colony). Caesars Entertainment (which then owned Bally's, Caesars Palace, the Flamingo, and Paris) was acquired by Harrah's in 2005.

Blackstone's La Quinta Hotels in Las Vegas
Hotel	Rooms
La Quinta - Airport (LQ)	251
La Quinta - Lakes (LQ)	75
La Quinta - Nellis (LQ)	59
La Quinta - Summerlin (LQ)	128
La Quinta - Tropicana (LQ)	59
Total	572

Blackstone Group's Hilton Hotels in Las Vegas that Hilton may own or just license
Hotel	Opened	Rooms
Doubletree Club LV Airport	1999	190
Embassy Suites Convention Ctr	2000	286
Embassy Suites Las Vegas	1999	220
Hampton Inn Henderson	1999	99
Hampton Inn Tropicana	1999	319
Hampton Inn Summerlin		127
Hilton Garden Inn LV Strip South	2004	128
Hilton Garden Inn LV Henderson	2007	139
Homewood Suites by Hilton, Henderson	2006	144
Total:		1,751

Licensed but not owned Hilton Hotels in Las Vegas
Hotel	Opened	Rooms	Owner
Conrad	2009	272	Majestic Resorts
Hampton Inn Henderson-Saint Rose	2007	99	Nigro Development
Las Vegas Hilton	1969, renamed 1971	2,956	Colony Capital
Total:		3,228

Blackstone Group's Hilton Timeshares in Las Vegas Through timeshare division Hilton Grand Vacations Company, LLC
Hotel	Opened	Rooms
Hilton Grand Vacations Club - Lake Las Vegas (2009)		200
Hilton Grand Vacations Club - Las Vegas Hilton		400
Hilton Grand Vacations Club - Las Vegas Strip	2003	506
Hilton Grand Vacations Club - Flamingo		300
Waldorf=Astoria at Lake Las Vegas Resort (2009)		50
Waldorf=Astoria at Condrad Las Vegas (2009)		50
Total:		1,506

Blackstone's Extended Stay Hotels in Las Vegas
Hotel	Opened	Rooms
Extended StayAmerica Las Vegas - Boulder Hwy		123
Extended Stay Deluxe - East Flamingo		125
Extended StayAmerica Las Vegas - Valley View		177
Homestead Studio Suites Las Vegas - Midtown		123
Total		548

About Extended Stay

Owns and operates four Extended Stay Hotels in Las Vegas. Based in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Brands include Extended Stay America Efficiency Studios, Homestead Studio Suites, StudioPLUS Deluxe Studios, and Crossland Economy Studios.

Next: C

---

Home | Introduction | Top Players | New Projects | News
Hotels | Index | Timeshares | Links | Email

1 | A | B | Blackstone | C | D | E | F | G | H | Harrah's | I | J | K | L
M | MGM | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z