At Hanalei Bay, the hotel has a peculiar ambition. It wants to recede. Green roofs soften the building; plants draw the eye toward the landscape. The former St. Regis Princeville, a resort on Kauai’s north shore, became 1 Hotel Hanalei Bay after a $300 million transformation. A considerable sum, you might think, to become less conspicuous.
- Starwood’s principal brands sell nature, crystal-lit luxury and playful nostalgia.
- The current company took the Starwood name in 2025, after operating as SH Hotels & Resorts.
- Its customers include travelers and the owners who need a hotel brand to make commercial sense.
That apparent contradiction helps explain Starwood Hotels. Barry Sternlicht’s hospitality group builds brands around particular feelings, then recruits the architecture, service and dining to sustain them. At 1 Hotels, nature supplies the organizing idea. At Baccarat, the crystal house supplies the vocabulary. Treehouse borrows the pleasures of being young enough to regard a fort as suitable accommodation.
A $300 million disappearing act
The Hanalei conversion gives the philosophy a price tag. The company reported salvaging nearly 150 tons of furniture, fixtures, equipment and other materials. Its wellness offering brought together Bamford’s spa, fitness and outdoor activities. The proposition was specific: travelers could have a comfortable resort holiday with nature as the setting and the subject.
Hanalei Bay transformation cost, announced in 2023. A property investment, separate from company funding.
For a guest, that translates into choices: a wellness stay, a family trip, a meal, a meeting, or simply a room in a place worth visiting. The design is part of the product. So are the people who keep the experience working after the photographer leaves.
The first thing to break was the timetable
The idea had an awkward childhood. Sternlicht announced the original 1 Hotel concept in 2006, with eight locations targeted. By 2008, construction on the first Seattle and Washington projects had been put on hold. The credit crunch reached the building sites before the guests did. An attractive proposition still needed financing and a completed property.
The brand eventually welcomed guests in South Beach and Manhattan in 2015. Baccarat’s New York hotel also debuted that year. Treehouse arrived in London in 2019. The lesson is less glamorous than the rooms: concepts travel quickly; buildings move at the speed of capital, permits and construction.
Then came another change of name. On March 5, 2025, SH Hotels & Resorts became Starwood Hotels. Sternlicht had founded the earlier Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which Marriott acquired in 2016. Today’s group has its own portfolio. A traveler looking for Westin, Sheraton or old SPG benefits is following a different family tree.
“It’s not the same Starwood, but it’s certainly a platform for growth.”
Raul Leal · Chief executive · March 2026
Three different reasons to check in
Why revive a familiar name? Sternlicht described it as a tribute to a recognized legacy, joined to a modern approach to hospitality. The umbrella offers continuity while the individual brands do the selling. A guest can understand 1 Hotels without wanting Baccarat; someone choosing Baccarat need not share Treehouse’s appetite for whimsy.
These are luxury and lifestyle businesses serving travelers who care about atmosphere as well as an address. Rooms sit alongside restaurants, bars, spas, events and, at selected developments, branded residences. SH Collection accommodates individual properties within the broader platform. The expertise behind the scenes spans design, operations, marketing and technology.
Depending on the destination, a traveler might also consider Six Senses, Edition, W or an independent design hotel. Starwood’s pitch depends on a recognizable point of view. Its smaller footprint also means a guest cannot assume the group will have a suitable hotel in every city.
The guest is only half the customer
The other customer owns or develops real estate. Starwood offers that partner a brand and the skills to operate it. The distinction matters: an investment by a property owner is different from revenue earned by the management company. Different ownership arrangements can support the same name over the door.
The development brief makes the branding unusually tangible. For urban 1 Hotels, published guidance calls for guestrooms of at least 420 square feet; Baccarat calls for 500. Treehouse’s king-room guidance starts at 300. These are planning requirements, rather than measurements of every existing room. Still, they show how a mood becomes a building.
Urban room planning guidelines
Restaurants extend the audience beyond overnight guests. In February 2026, CEO Raul Leal estimated that around 60% of the company’s food-and-beverage business came from the local community. That makes the neighborhood commercially important. A dining room needs reasons for people nearby to return.
A loyalty ladder, removed
In July 2025, 1 Hotels changed Mission, replacing points and tiers with a membership built around recognition, benefits and giving. Membership is free. The company says it donates 1% of qualifying charges from eligible stays to a selected nonprofit cause through GlobalGiving. New-member tree planting involves the Arbor Day Foundation.
The company framed the change as a move toward personalization and shared purpose. Practical details still govern the experience: participating properties, qualifying rates and booking channels matter. Upgrades and late checkout depend on availability. Travelers should compare the actual booking conditions with their plans before assigning value to the perks.
The operating culture has to support the promise, too. Starwood says it introduced sustainability-linked incentives for general managers in 2021. Leal describes listening to employee and consumer focus groups alongside the data. Those mechanisms are less photogenic than a planted roof, but they give the people running a property a reason to preserve what the brand stands for.
Belonging has a bill
The formula asks a lot of a project: sufficient capital, a fitting location, operational skill and guests willing to pay. Community acceptance also takes work. In 2026, proposed expansion at Hanalei Bay faced objections from local groups, including concerns about coastal development. A nature-centered brand remains answerable to the people living beside it.
For another business, the useful thing to copy is the discipline of making an idea concrete. Translate the promise into materials, room sizes, service decisions and incentives. Ask employees what guests actually notice. Starwood has made those choices visible. Its next test is repeating that attention as new addresses join the portfolio, including the 252-room 1 Hotel Austin, opened in September 2026.