Le Méridien is an upscale, design-focused international

hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a dresser, a ref ...

brand with a European perspective. It was originally founded by

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global air ...

in 1972 and was later based in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational corporation, multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging including hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. T ...

now owns the chain. As of June 2021, it had a portfolio of 109 open hotels with 29,439 rooms and a pipeline of 37 hotels with 9,585 upcoming rooms.

History

established Meridien Hotels in 1972. The chain's hotels offered accommodation for Air France flight crews in major hub cities, and the airline promoted the chain and handled reservations for it. The first Meridien Hotels property was a 1,000-room hotel in the heart of Paris, the Hotel Meridien Paris, today known as Le Méridien Etoile. The chain grew to 10 hotels in Europe and Africa within two years and had 21 hotels spanning the globe within six years. In 1994, as part of a cost-cutting measure, Air France sold its controlling interest in Meridien Hotels Inc., a 57.3% stake, to the UK-based

Forte Group Forte Group plc was a British hotel and restaurant company. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index until it was acquired by Granada in 1996. Its head office was in the London Borough of Camden. ...

for $207 million. Meridien Hotels numbered 58 properties at the time. The sale followed an 18-month battle for control of the company between Forte, German-based

Kempinski Kempinski Hotels S.A., commonly known as Kempinski, is a luxury hotel management company headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. Founded in Berlin in 1897 as the ''Hotelbetriebs-Aktiengesellschaft'', the group currently operates 78 five-star ho ...

and French hospitality company

Accor Accor S.A. is a French multinational hospitality company that owns, manages and franchises hotels, resorts and vacation properties. It is the largest hospitality company in Europe, and the sixth largest hospitality company worldwide. Accor op ...

. The French government was reported to have favored Accor's bid, wishing to keep the company French-owned, while the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

was reported to have favored Forte over Accor and to have pressured Air France to sell to Forte, in exchange for a vital 20 billion Franc bailout for the airline. Forte simultaneously announced their intention to buy the remaining minority stakes in the hotel chain from

Crédit Foncier de France Crédit Foncier de France (CFF) was a major French bank, active from 1852 to 2019 when its activities were entirely subsumed into Groupe BPCE, although the brand name appears to remain active. History The Crédit Foncier (English: landed cred ...

Crédit Lyonnais The Crédit Lyonnais (, "Lyon Credit ompany) was a major French bank, created in 1863 and absorbed by former rival Crédit Agricole in 2003. Its head office was initially in Lyon but moved to Paris in 1882. In the early years of the 20th c ...

and other shareholders. UK conglomerate

Granada Granada (,, DIN 31635, DIN: ; grc, Ἐλιβύργη, Elibýrgē; la, Illiberis or . ) is the capital city of the province of Granada, in the autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia, Spain. Granada is located at the fo ...

won a hostile takeover battle for Forte in January 1996. Granada convinced majority shareholders to sell to them, rather than

Rocco Forte Sir Rocco Giovanni Forte (born 18 January 1945) is an English hotelier and the chairman of Rocco Forte Hotels. Early life Born in Bournemouth, the son of Charles Forte, Baron Forte, and his wife Irene, he was educated at St Peter's Catho ...

, son of the company's founder, who feared Granada would strip the company of its assets. Granada assumed control of Forte for $5.9 billion. Soon after, in May 1996, Granada announced its intention to sell the 18 luxury hotels of the Forte Hotels chain, but to retain the 85 hotels in the Meridien Hotels chain. The 2000 merger of Forte and caterer

Compass Group Compass Group plc is a British multinational contract foodservice company headquartered in Chertsey, England. It is the largest contract foodservice company in the world employing over 500,000 people. It serves meals in locations including o ...

, and demerger within a year, passed the Forte Hotels division's three remaining brands (Le Méridien, Heritage Hotels and Posthouse Forte) to Compass. In May 2001,

Nomura Group is a Japanese financial holding company and a principal member of the Nomura Group. It, along with its broker-dealer, banking and other financial services subsidiaries, provides investment, financing and related services to individual, instituti ...

acquired Le Méridien Hotels & Resorts from Compass for £1.9 billion, and Le Méridien was merged with Principal Hotels, which had been acquired in February 2001. In December 2003,

Lehman Brothers Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. ( ) was an American global financial services firm founded in 1847. Before filing for bankruptcy in 2008, Lehman was the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States (behind Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, a ...

Holdings acquired the senior debt of Le Méridien. US-based

Starwood Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide, Inc. was one of the largest companies that owned, operated, franchised and managed hotels, resorts, spas, residences, and vacation ownership properties. It was acquired by Marriott International in 2016. ...

acquired Le Méridien on November 24, 2005. A Lehman Brothers and

Starwood Capital Group Starwood Capital Group is an investment firm headquartered in Miami Beach, Florida. It is managed by Barry Sternlicht. It was co-founded by Sternlicht and Robert Faith in 1991. In 1993, Faith left Starwood to found Greystar Real Estate Partners ...

joint venture obtained the leased and owned real estate assets in a separate deal. Over the following five years, 45 of these 130 properties were sold, and 20 new ones were added to the chain. In September 2016, Marriott gained the Le Méridien brand as part of its acquisition of

. The brand has since been positioned as a premium lifestyle product distinguished by a mid-century modern design aesthetic and destination-centric events and programming.

Worldwide presence

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Meridien 1994 mergers and acquisitions 2005 mergers and acquisitions American companies established in 1972 Companies based in Bethesda, Maryland French companies established in 1972 Hotel chains Hotels established in 1972 Marriott International brands Private equity portfolio companies