Room at the Inns

For 30 years, the Sheraton Corp. of America, which vies with Hilton for the title of leading U.S. hotel chain, was run pretty much as the private, if not always profitable, satrapy of Co-Founder Ernest Henderson. After Henderson's death two months ago, the chain passed to his son, Ernest Henderson III, 43, as president and chief executive, and longtime Henderson Financial Adviser Richard Boonisar, 60, as chairman. Along with the changeover came rumors that Sheraton was ripe for acquisition if the right offer came.

Last week it did: an exchange of stock with a per-share value of $35 for each of 5,500,000 Sheraton shares outstanding. Making the $193 million bid was Harold S. Geneen (TIME cover, Sept. 8), chairman-president of the vast conglomerate International Telephone & Telegraph Corp. Sheraton and its 129 U.S. hotels and motels, together with 25 overseas, should fit nicely into ITT's "consumer services" group, which already includes Avis, Airport Parking Co. and 16 Holiday Inn franchises. For the time being, at least, Geneen will let Henderson and Boonisar run his 45th acquisition.

For privacy, Geneen, Boonisar and aides carried on negotiations in a suite of Boston's non-Sheraton Somerset Hotel. Negotiations over, Geneen got a firsthand idea of how booming was his new business; at 1 a.m., with the suite's beds spoken for, not a hotel room was to be had in Boston. "To hell with it," snapped the new innkeeper, who then flew back to his New York apartment aboard an ITT Gulfstream.

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