Le Méridien is an upper-upscale, design-focused international hotel brand with a European perspective, formerly headquartered in France and the United Kingdom. The brand was acquired by US-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts in 2005. Following the acquisition of Starwood by Marriott International in 2015, it is now owned by Marriott and, as of December 31, 2019, has a portfolio of 110 open hotels with 29,201 rooms and a pipeline of 33 hotels with 8,043 upcoming rooms.
History
Le Méridien was established as a brand in 1972 by Air France under a joint venture agreement "to provide a home away from home for its customers." The first Le Méridien property was a 1,000-room hotel in the heart of Paris, today's Le Méridien Etoile. Within two years of operation, the group had 10 hotels in Europe and Africa. Within the first six years, the number of hotels had risen to 21 hotels in Europe, Africa, the French West Indies, Canada, South America, the Middle East and Mauritius. By 1991, the total number of Le Méridien properties had risen to 58. In late 1994, Le Méridien was acquired by UK hotel company Forte Group, which in turn was acquired by Granada plc in 1996. Through a merger in the summer of 2000 between Granada plc and global contract caterer Compass Group — and the subsequent de-merger of the two companies in February 2001 — the ownership of the Forte Hotels division and its three brands passed solely to Compass. In May 2001, Nomura Group announced the acquisition of Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts from Compass Group plc for £1.9 billion, and Le Méridien was merged with Principal Hotels, which was acquired in February 2001. In December 2003, Lehman Brothers Holdings acquired the senior debt of Le Méridien. On November 24, 2005, the Le Méridien brand and management fee business was acquired by Starwood Capital Group. The leased and owned real estate assets were acquired in a separate deal by a joint venture formed by Lehman Brothers and Starwood Capital.
