Westin Hotels & Resorts

Westin Hotels & Resorts is an upscale hotel chain owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. As of 2013, Westin operated over 192 hotels.

History

Early History

In 1930, Severt W. Thurston and Frank Dupar of Seattle, Washington met unexpectedly during breakfast at a diner in Yakima, Washington. The competing hotel owners decided to form a management company to handle all their properties, and help deal with the crippling effects of the ongoing Great Depression. The men invited Peter and Adolph Schmidt, who operated five hotels in the Puget Sound area, to join them, and together they established Western Hotels. The chain consisted of 17 properties, 16 in Washington and one in Boise, Idaho.

Western expanded to Vancouver, British Columbia and Portland, Oregon in 1931, and by 1941 into Alaska and California. By the early 1950s, Western also had properties in Montana and Utah.

Growth and Name Change

Early management developed each property individually. After more than two decades of rapid growth, many of its properties were merged into a single corporate structure in 1958, focusing on bringing the hotels together under a common chain identity.

Westin Virginia Beach Town Center

The Westin Virginia Beach Town Center is a 38 story high rise hotel and living residence in Virginia Beach Town Center. The 4 star hotel is the bottom half of the 38 story building and the upper stories are the residents' homes. There are 119 condominiums in the top floors ranging from 900 to 4,000 square feet (370 m²). The building was built throughout 2006 and 2007. Upon completion, it became the tallest building in Virginia, surpassing the James Monroe Building in Richmond.

See also

References

External links