Starwood's Tom Botts joined representatives from Choice, Cendant, Carlson and Hilton in a panel discussion on each of the company's Internet strategies. Starwood, like many hotel companies recently, wants to match prices of the on-line hotel distributors and has worked hard to draw attention to their own branded websites, which he reports are outselling the Expedia's and 's out there, five to one. Listen in to what Starwood is doing and what the future may hold.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 750 properties in more than 80 countries and 105,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, Sheraton®, Westin®, Four Points® by Sheraton, W® brands, as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit us at www.starwood.com.

This year's AH&LA Multiunit Lodging Operators & Owners Forum focused on how the various Internet distribution channels are affecting the hotel business and gave attendees methods to effectively manage these channels. Conference speakers included John F. Davis, CEO Pegasus Solutions, Inc., Chris Soder, EVP of Lodging and Vacation Industries, Priceline.com and David Litman, CEO, Hotels.com.

Kevin Heilbronner is the US Editor for wiredhotelier.com and hospitalitynet.org, providing streaming multimedia-content for these websites. Based outside of Washington DC, Heilbronner has worked with Hsyndicate to conduct interviews at several hospitality trade shows in the US and Europe over the last couple of years. His column and content are featured in the Hospitality Net weekly newsletter. A familiar voice in Washington, DC, Heilbronner is the stadium announcer for the NBA's Washington Wizards, WNBA's Washington Mystics and WUSA's Washington Freedom. He resides in Centreville, VA and can be reached via email: [email protected].

Kevin Heilbronner
Starwood