Short answers, pulled from the story.
Severt W. Thurston and Frank Dupar established the company in 1930 after meeting at a coffee shop in Yakima, Washington. They invited Peter Schmidt and Adolph Schmidt to join them, creating Western Hotels with 17 properties.
The company changed its name to Westin Hotels on the 5th of January 1981 as a contraction of Western International. The Washington Plaza Hotel in Seattle became The Westin Hotel on the 1st of September 1981 that same year.
By 2023 the portfolio grew to 243 properties with 88,157 rooms total. North America maintained 134 properties holding 54,820 rooms while Asian and Pacific regions expanded significantly to 69 properties containing 21,173 rooms.
Westin was the first hotel chain to introduce guest credit cards in 1946. The company added 24-hour room service starting in 1969 and placed personal voice mail in each room by 1991.
Notable international locations include the Westin Dhaka, the Westin Zagreb which serves Croatia, and the Westin Excelsior in Rome. The Westin Excelsior features the Villa La Cupola Suite listed at number eight on CNN Go's World's 15 most expensive hotel suites compiled in 2012.