A fight for control of the Starwood hotel chain is underway following a $14 billion buyout offer Monday from a consortium led by China's Anbang Insurance Group.

Starwood previously had agreed to a $12.2 billion takeover by Bethesda-based Marriott International Inc., which said Monday that it stands behind its offer. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide said Monday that it still favors the Marriott deal, but that it's looking at the latest bid.

Shareholders of both companies are scheduled to vote on the deal March 28, but the offer from Anbang could disrupt those plans.

Anbang, which remains largely unknown to most Americans, has quickly become a player in the U.S. hotel industry, acquiring marquee properties.

It made a splash in the fall of 2014 when it bought New York's Waldorf Astoria for almost $2 billion. And just days ago, it cut a $6.5 billion deal for Strategic Hotels & Resorts, which owns properties like The Westin St. Francis in San Francisco, JW Marriott Essex House in New York and Hotel Del Coronado in San Diego. Strategic also owned five Four Seasons hotels and two Ritz-Carltons.

Now it is going toe-to-toe with U.S. hotel giant Marriott for Stamford, Conn.-based Starwood, the owner of Sheraton, Westin and St. Regis hotels.

The deal with Marriott would create the world's largest hotel chain with 5,500 properties and more than 1.1 million rooms. Such scale would give the combined company pricing power when negotiating commissions with online travel agencies, as well as help it land more corporate travel contracts.