China -- The Westin Beijing Financial Street ended a spectacular year by being named as the “World’s Leading Financial District Hotel” by World Travel Awards 2008. This is the third award the hotel received from the prestigious World Travel Awards, yet the highest category as worldwide.

Hailed as the “Travel Industry’s Oscars”, the World Travel Awards is one of the most comprehensive and prestigious awards program in global travel, tourism and hospitality industry today. Over 167,000 travel professionals from over 160 countries across the globe took part in a voting campaign to recognize the finest in their respective fields worldwide.

“This is a really amazing ending of 2008 to receive such a high praise, especially from such a renowned worldwide awards organization as World Travel Awards. We are immensely grateful for the confidence and trust in us from the industry friends around the globe, and their support will for sure drive us to move forward with our best efforts! “Said Mr. Charlie Dang, Area Managing Director of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Northern China and General Manager of The Westin Beijing Financial Street.

A 1.03 million square meters Beijing Financial Street District has become “wall street of China”, consisting of central government’s financial regulatory organizations, state-owned banks, insurance company headquarters, securities, major financial associations, state-owned enterprises’ headquarters, and top international banks and financial institutions. The Westin Beijing Financial Street is ideally located in the center of the district and offers luxurious accommodation and also a unique Westin life style via the innovative services and products, to ensure the busy business travelers at their best.

Westin Hotels & Resorts, with 122 hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories, is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and was voted the number one upper-upscale hotel brand for three years in Business Travel News’ “Annual U.S. Hotel Chain Survey”.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 950 properties in more than 95 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®, The Luxury Collection®, Sheraton®, Westin®, Four Points® by Sheraton, W®, Le Méridien® and the recently announced aloftSM and ELEMENTSM 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 .

Sara Liu
Director of Marketing Communications
(86) 10 6606 8866