Reading The New York Times is how I start my day and hotel news always catches my eye, as I write about that business. So it was with great interest that I learned of The Blackstone Group’s $26-billion acquisition of Hilton Hotels Corp., a purchase sure to change the lodging landscape.

In her July 4 account, appropriately named reporter Louise Story didn’t do that well with spelling or fact-checking, however, though she may have inadvertently given birth to a new brand. In the sixth paragraph, Story referenced Hilton’s expansion through acquisition of companies like “Promise Hotels.” Story, of course, was referring to Hilton’s $4-billion acquisition of Promus Hotel Corp. in late 1999.

Kudos to the Times for one of the best puns of the year. Too bad it was inadvertent.

It was a shock but not a surprise to hear that The Blackstone Group made a deal late Tuesday to purchase Hilton Hotels Corp. for about $26 billion, a price that’s one-third higher than Hilton’s stock price at the close of the market on Tuesday. I (see Lodging Hospitality, Jan. 2006, pg. 4) and other analysts saw Hilton as a potental takeover target this year. It was the timing and the size of the deal that shocks me.

As this seems to be a done-deal, the next questions are how will Hilton change, if at all, under Blackstone ownership and which other hotel companies are in the crosshairs of Blackstone and/or other equity groups? Blackstone’s current lodging portfolio includes the La Quinta system and LXR Resorts, a collection of loosely similar upscale resorts and city properties. Earlier this year, Blackstone sold the 683-property Extended Stay Hotels portfolio for $8 billion to lodging newbie David Lichtenstein.

In the few short years Blackstone has been in the lodging industry, the company has chosen not to combine its disparate brands and companies, probably because it knows it has a short- to -medium-term exit strategy for each of them. Similarly, I doubt if it will attempt to integrate La Quinta, which competes with the Hampton brand, into the Hilton family. Integration may occur, however, with LXR Resorts as several of those properties, e.g., The Boulders, Boca Raton Resort and The El Conquistador, could easily become Waldorf=Astorias or Conrads. But again, Blackstone doesn’t buy to operate long-term; every deal it makes is a precursor to another deal down the road.

The more interesting question is whether other mega hotel companies are ripe for takeover. After all, what board of directors can say no to a sale price that’s a 33-percent premium to stock value? In my estimation, the likeliest candidates, in order of potential, are InterContinental Hotels Group, Wyndham Worldwide and—as a long-shot—Starwood Hotels & Resorts.

You get the feeling that the buzzards are circling and more news is on the way—probably before the year is over.

The long-festering issue of video pornography in hotel guestrooms (see Lodging Hospitality, Oct. 2006, pgs. 20-21) has now seeped into presidential politics. As reported earlier this week by the Christian Broadcasting Network, a number of conservative advocacy groups are questioning Republican candidate Mitt Romney about his failure (they say) to remove R- and X-rated video content from Marriott guestrooms during his nearly 10-year stint on the company’s board of directors. Romney left the board in 2002.

Romney’s campaign has tried to sidestep the issue by claiming, and rightly so, that the board of directors didn’t regularly review operational issues such as in-room entertainment offerings. However, as a board member Romney could have at least raised the issue.

And, of course, Marriott has always argued that these decisions are the province of owners and franchisors, not Marriott corporate. However, I know for a fact that at least one (and probably all) of the Marriott properties owned by the Marriott family trust offers a full array of entertainment options, including adult.

Further complicating the Romney situation are Mitt’s close personal ties to the Marriott family. Romney’s father, George, was a close friend of company founder J. Willard Marriott, and Mitt’s first name is Willard, in J.W.’s honor. So far during Romney’s presidential campaign, the Marriott family has given $80,000 to the Romney effort, reports CBN.