Starwood launches ‘Tribute’ and Hilton launches a bonus for ‘Curio’ as independents hoovered up

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the ‘Autograph’ collection of hotels promoted by Marriott.  This is a group of independent hotels which have chosen to work with Marriott for marketing and promotional purposes (including redeeming and earning Marriott Rewards points) whilst retaining their own characteristics.

‘Autograph’ has gone well for Marriott.  The UK properties are all very well regarded hotels – St Ermin’s in London, Threadneedles in The City and The Glasshouse in Edinburgh.  In New York it has venerable names such as the Alonquin and The Lexington.

Hilton launches a bonus for ‘Curio’

I also mentioned ‘Curio’ in that article.  Hilton has jumped on the bandwagon started by ‘Autograph’ and now has nine hotels operating under the ‘Curio’ brand which you can see here.  The first European property, in Hamburg, is due to open very soon.

If you are planning to give ‘Curio’ a try before July 31st, Hilton HHonors is offering 1,500 bonus points per night.  You need to register via this page on the Hilton site.  It may trigger on redemption nights too.

(I will add a link to this offer to our ‘Hotel Promos‘ page, so you don’t need to worry about remembering it!)

Starwood also jumps on the bandwagon

Starwood has recently announced that it is launched its own ‘independent hotels’ brand, to be called ‘Tribute‘.

The website is here.  So far, it contains a grand total of one hotel – the Royal Palm, South Beach, Miami.  A further four hotels have been signed but all are in the US so far.

Has Starwood left it too late?  If I was running a five-star independent hotel I imagine I would be fighting off overtures from Marriott, Hilton, Starwood and – since the other big chains tend to follow like a herd – IHG, Carlson and Accor.  This may well be a trend that burns itself out especially if the hotels find that they are not getting real value for the margin they are handing over.

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Hotel offers update – April 2025:

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• Hilton Honors is offering a 100% bonus when you buy points by 29th May 2025. The annual purchase limit is also increased to 240,000 points pre-bonus. Click here to buy.