4 reasons to get excited about Starwood's new Millennial luxury brand, Tribute Portfolio

Starwood is going HENRY with its new luxury hotel collection, Tribute Portfolio. HENRY, for those of you out of the loop, is the new acronym for Millennials that have high salaries without matching high net worths: High Earning, Not Rich Yet. So there's a lot of income to burn but not in the traditional throes of luxury — they want cool, funky and hip, but with the exclusivity that comes with the higher price point. These "upper upscale" hotels are starting to become more popular as Millennials age up into their peak earning years. Here's what we're looking forward to the most about Tribute Portfolio:

Location, location, location. Starwood has chosen a series of locations known as up-and-coming food cities with thriving arts districts, including Savannah, GA; Asheville, NC; Nashville, TN; and Charleston, SC. The launch hotel is the Royal Palm in Miami's trendy South Beach, which offers resort facilities right on the beachfront and in the heart of the city's hottest scene. The hotel has been in existence since the 1930s — its original namesake was condemned and torn down after a 1926 hurricane.

Complete independence, including branding. The Tribute Portfolio branding will always be secondary to the primary hotel's brand. This means that Tribute hotels will maintain their own unique identities, making them far more interesting to the authenticity-driven traveler. And as the hotels will still be run by independent hoteliers, you'll get more boutique service and local flavor than you would otherwise.

Starwood Preferred Guest. The tie-in with Starwood Preferred Guest is like getting the best of both worlds: an independent-style hotel with its own brand and a full-fledged loyalty program. The quirks and eccentricities of boutique living are all the more appealing when combined with the global reach of SPG. Starwood realizes this is a huge selling point for its latest hotel brand and is thus offering a limited time promotion related to Tribute Portfolio hotels, with a bonus of 2,000 points per stay at the newest brand. The max earn is 10,000 points and the offer ends on July 15, 2015.

Rapid growth. As Starwood is an enormous hotel group, it's always looking for growth. And in addition to exciting new partnerships, the idea is to select independent hotels that can benefit from Starwood's expertise. Eventually the Tribute brand umbrella will include 100 hotels to be added over the next five years — that means that soon we will be able to traverse the globe with stays at independent hotels without sacrificing the support of a familiar brand.