Marriott closes deal, has 1.1M roomsNEW YORK — Several of the best-known names in travel are now united in one hotel company.Marriott International closed this morning on its $13 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, bringing together its Marriott, Courtyard and Ritz Carlton brands with Starwood’s Sheraton, Westin, W and St. Regis properties.In total, 30 hotel brands now fall under the Marriott umbrella to create the largest hotel chain in the world with more than 5,700 properties and 1.1 million rooms in more than 110 countries. That’s more than one out of every 15 hotel rooms around the globe.Marriott now eclipses Hilton Worldwide’s 773,000 rooms and Intercontinental Hotels Group’s 766,000, according to STR, a firm that tracks hotel data.Starting today, members of the two loyalty programs will be able to link their accounts together.

Fargo CEO resigns from council spotWASHINGTON — Wells Fargo’s embattled CEO is resigning his position on the Federal Reserve’s advisory council amid a scandal over millions of accounts allegedly opened by the bank without customers’ permission.The San Francisco Fed said Thursday that John Stumpf is giving up his position as representative from the central bank’s San Francisco region on the advisory council.The move was a “personal decision” by Stumpf, Wells Fargo spokeswoman Jennifer Dunn said. “His top priority is leading Wells Fargo.”His resignation from the council, which meets four times a year to discuss economic and banking issues, was effective immediately. Members serve one-year terms starting in January.

Home sales slow as inventories declineWASHINGTON — Americans retreated from home-buying in August, as a worsening inventory shortage appears to be hurting sales and pushing prices higher.Housing has been a bright spot amid weak economic growth for much of this year. Sales totals continue to recover from the Great Recession. Buyers increasingly have pristine credit. But the primary weakness in housing has been a lack of properties for sale.Sales of existing homes slipped 0.9 percent last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.33 million, the second straight monthly decline, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday.