WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. – Conde Nast Traveler readers named 50 Starwood hotels and resorts to the magazine's 1999 Gold List which features the world's top 500 places to stay. Earning 10 percent of the listing's coveted spots, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. HOT boasts more Gold List winners than any other hotel company in the world.

Appearing in Conde Nast Traveler's January 1999 issue, the Gold List is determined via the magazine's Reader's Choice Poll. 37,000 readers voted in this year's poll.

"Conde Nast Traveler's readers are among the world's most sophisticated travelers," said Barry S. Sternlicht, Chairman and CEO of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Starwood is proud that such a discerning group chose so many of our hotels as the best of the best. It is a wonderful endorsement that has, and should continue to influence travel decisions.

"Starwood Preferred Guest, our new frequency program which launches on February 4 and will replace Sheraton Club International and Westin Premier, will allow customers of all our brands – Westin, Sheraton, Four Points, St. Regis/Luxury Collection, W and Caesars – to redeem their travel awards at these luxury hotels, representing some of the most spectacular properties around the globe. This is an enormous competitive advantage – one that no other hotel company in existence can match," Mr. Sternlicht said.

Four Starwood brands earned Gold List honors. 23 of The Luxury Collection's 56 hotels were named to the Gold List, followed by 20 Westin Hotels & Resorts; six Sheraton Hotels & Resorts; and Caesars Palace, the flagship of the Caesars gaming brand.

Starwood's Gold List winners are as follows:

Westin (20)

47 Park Street, London
Trianon Palace, Versailles
The Westin Casuarina Resort, Grand Cayman
The Westin Nova Scotian
Las Brisas, Acapulco
The Westin Regina Resort, Los Cabos
The Westin Brisas Resort, Ixtapa
Caesar Park Cancun Beach & Golf Resort
The Westin Regina Resort, Puerto Vallarta
The Westin Alyeska Prince
The Westin Fairfax, Wash. DC
The Westin Innisbrook Resort
Mauna Kea Beach Hotel
Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel
Maui Prince Hotel, Makena Resort
The Westin Maui
The Westin Copley Place, Boston
The Westin Central Park South
The Westin Resort Hilton Head Island
Turnberry Hotel, Golf Courses & Spa

Sheraton (6)

Sheraton Salzburg Hotel
Hotel Villa Cipriani
Sheraton Ixtapa Resort
Sheraton Towers, Singapore
Royal Orchid Sheraton, Bangkok
Sheraton Royal Denarau Resort

The Luxury Collection (23)

Hotel Goldener Hirsch, Salzburg
Hotel Bristol, Vienna
Hotel Imperial, Vienna
Prince de Galles, Paris
Grand Hotel, Florence
Hotel Excelsior, Rome
Hotel Gritti Palace, Venice
Hotel Danieli, Venice
Sheraton Algarve
Hotel Alfonso XIII, Seville
The Phoenician, Scottsdale
St. Regis, Aspen
Orchid at Mauna Lani
Princeville Resort, Kauai
The Royal Hawaiian, Waikiki
The Lodge at Koele, Lana'i
Manele Bay Hotel, Lana'i
St. Regis, New York
Luxury Collection Hotel, Houston
Sheraton Laguna Nusa Dua, Bali
Sheraton Mirage Gold Coast
Sheraton Mirage, Port Douglas
The Carlton, Wash. DC

Caesars (1)

Caesars Palace

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., through its Sheraton, Westin, Luxury Collection, Four Points, W and Caesars subsidiaries, has more than 650 hotels in 70 countries with 125,000 employees and is one of the world's leading hotel and gaming operating companies in the world. Shares of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. are paired and trade together with shares of Starwood Hotels and Resorts HOT.

Jim Gallagher
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide
+1 914 640-8194
Starwood