ORLANDO, Fla. | Starwood Vacation Ownership (SVO), the fractional and vacation ownership division of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT), has launched sales at The Westin Desert Willow Villas, Palm Desert. During construction, sales will take place at a new state of the art sales gallery located adjacent to the resort in Palm Desert.

This will be SVO's second Westin-branded vacation ownership resort in the region with the first being the Westin Mission Hills Resort & Villas located nearby in Rancho Mirage, California. Construction of the new Westin Desert Willow Villas is scheduled to commence later this month with occupancy currently scheduled for late 2009.

"We are excited to extend our presence in southern California with The Westin Desert Willow Villas. Desert Willow is a magnificent community with two of the best public golf courses in the country, providing the perfect backdrop for our second Westin-branded vacation ownership resort in the area. We had been searching for some time for a site suitable as a sequel to our highly successful resort at Mission Hills. Palm Desert is the ideal location for another resort in the Valley providing our owners and guests an opportunity to vacation in one of the premier destinations in the country," said Dave Broderick, senior vice president, sales and marketing, Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc.

The Westin Desert Willow Villas will include 300 two-bedroom lock-off villas with luxurious features and amenities. Guests will delight in the separate living and dining rooms, balconies, flat-panel televisions, dvd players, stereos, hi-speed wireless internet, convection ovens, and jet tubs. The resort will also feature a clubhouse and reception building, two lavish swimming pools, a water slide, hot tubs, a kiddie pool, tennis courts, a game room and expansive landscaped grounds, and a WESTINWORKOUT(R) Fitness Facility. The design of the villas and sales center will complement the existing architecture and style of Desert Willow.

The sales gallery will be located at 39810 Portola Avenue, Buildings C&D, Palm Desert, CA. For more information about The Westin Desert Willow Villas, please call (866) 458-8189.

Starwood Vacation Ownership is an award-winning company with more than 25 resorts in some of the most sought after vacation destinations in the world. The Westin Desert Willow Villas, Palm Desert will be the eleventh Westin Vacation Ownership resort either completed or in development including resorts in Maui, Kauai, California, Arizona, Colorado, Cancun, Los Cabos, St. John, USVI and Aruba. In addition to Westin, SVO is developing vacation ownership resorts under the Sheraton brand and high-end fractional residences under the St. Regis and The Luxury Collection brands.

About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 890 properties in more than 100 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis(R), The Luxury Collection(R), Sheraton(R), Westin(R), Four Points(R) by Sheraton, W(R), Le Meridien(R) and the recently announced Aloft(SM) and Element(SM) Hotels. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit .

"This is neither an offer to sell nor a solicitation to buy to residents in states in which registration requirements have not been fulfilled."

(Note: This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of federal securities regulations. Forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance or events and involve risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. These risks and uncertainties are presented in detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Although we believe the expectations reflected in such forward-looking statements are based upon reasonable assumptions, we can give no assurance that our expectations will be attained or that results and events will not materially differ. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.)

David N. Matheson
407-239-3595
Starwood