Westin Hotels
On January 5, 1996, Starwood Lodging Trust and Starwood Lodging Corp. jointly announced that The Grand would become a franchise of Westin Hotels. Under the franchise agreement, Westin would pay the two Starwoods a fee to rebrand the hotel as The Westin Hotel. In September 1997, Starwood Lodging Trust purchased Westin Hotels, integrating the franchisee into the Starwood brand. In 1999 the hotel was again renamed, becoming The Westin Grand.