Starwood's Affiliated Hotel Group Could Be Big

On April 16, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

introduced Tribute Portfolio, a new brand for high-end hotel owners to remain independent while taking advantage of the Starwood's marketing network and Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) loyalty points program. Starwood stands to receive a ~10 percent cut of room revenues under this "soft brand" arrangement -- where the property doesn't actually fly a Starwood flag -- and hopes to add 100 Tribute hotels globally over the next five years. Tribute Portfolio properties will be located in high-demand destinations and markets where SPG members travel and Starwood currently has little or no footprint. Tale Of The Tape - Past Year

Starwood's nine other brands include: Sheraton, Westin, W and St Regis and are part of a 1,200 strong family of hotels located in over 100 countries. On Wednesday, Starwood announced the opening of Suiran hotel in Kyoto, which is the first Japanese property flagged under Starwood's worldwide Luxury Collection brand of 93 hotels/resorts. The Luxury Collection was launched in 1994 and these properties are considered to be one notch above the new Tribute Portfolio target market Stiff Competition According to the Wall Street Journal, who broke the Tribute news Wednesday night, while this is the first new Starwood brand in nine years, competitors Marriott Corporation

and Hilton Worldwide

have been active of late. "Marriott launched its soft brand, the Autograph Collection, in 2010, and it has grown quickly to more than 80 hotels world-wide, including the Triada Palm Springs and Cotton House Barcelona. Hilton introduced its brand, Curio, last year and says it has five hotels open and agreements for 23 more. Curio recently added the Hotel Astor Saint-Honoré in Paris to the collection." C-Suite Changes In February, Starwood's former CEO, Frits van Paassche stepped down, and this initiative is being spearheaded by interim-CEO and board member Adam Aron. The friction in the boardroom has certainly been a contributing factor to Starwood's underperformance of late versus its peer group. First Tribute Property - REIT Owned According to the company announcement, "The brand will make its debut today with its first featured hotel, the iconic Royal Palm South Beach Miami and will soon open new hotels in Asheville, North Carolina, Nashville, Tennessee, Savannah, Georgia, and Charleston, South Carolina." "Dating back to 1939, the Royal Palm features 393 guestrooms, including more than 100 suites, two swimming pools surrounded by contemporary cabanas, a fully equipped gym, and more than 10,000 square feet of modern meeting and event space." This iconic South Beach property was recently renovated, and is owned by $1.9 billion cap Chesapeake Lodging Trust

, a hotel REIT which currently pays investors a dividend yield of 4.4 percent.