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Hilton and Starwood to Settle Denizen Dispute Out of Court?

June 5, 2009 at 3:45 PM | by Jenna | 2 Comments

Unsurprisingly, reports are coming in that Hilton is doing what they can to settle their dispute (otherwise known as The Great Denizen Disaster) with Starwood out of court — because, obviously, they're trying to keep the damage to their already-pretty-soiled reputation to a minimum.

In more official words, Travel Daily News printed:

Hilton Hotels is seeking a negotiated settlement in its corporate espionage case with Starwood rather than seeing the legal spat battle between two of the industry’s fiercest competitors aired in public, thereby avoiding further humiliation of its botched entry into the lifestyle hotel sector.

Uh, in cased you missed all these shenanigans (watch the drama unfold here): Starwood filed a complaint in federal court in New York claiming two former Starwood executives hired by Hilton — Ross Klein and Amar Lalvani — had stolen information about the W hotel brand to develop Hilton's Denizen luxury-lifestyle hotel concept. It was a pretty clear case of corporate espionage, and last we heard, all development of Denizen was suspended until things could get moving with this legal battle.

Um, just a guess, but this could mean Denizen is probably dunzo, right? Maybe the biggest priorities for Hilton are just minimizing and repairing the damage to the company's reputation and moving on?

2 Comments

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Return to » Hilton and Starwood to Settle Denizen Dispute Out of Court?

  1. jagboy

    HotelChatter Member

    well...

    All's well that ends well I suppose. As long as innocent people at Hilton don't have to lose their jobs over this craziness. Honestly, Denizen probably wasn't going to be the next big thing anyway. Did Ross K. think he could really take down the monster he created with W? Hilton needs to concentrate on turning some of its existing properties into boutique style hotels rather than trying to introduce yet ANOTHER "luxury-lifestyle" brand. Everyone is doing the same thing these days! They should stay ahead of the trend IMO. Instead of trying to get in while the getting is good.
    June 6, 2009 at 1:43 AM
    #Permalink

  1. mytwocents

    HotelChatter Member

    more well...

    they do say, however, that it's not over until the fat lady sings, so i wait to hear the verdict, er, music.
    June 8, 2009 at 6:29 PM
    #Permalink

Return to » Hilton and Starwood to Settle Denizen Dispute Out of Court?

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