The economic downturn and a strengthening dollar tightened their grip on the hospitality business in the first quarter as Starwood Hotels reported a sharp drop in profit – and declines in every other key industry metric, to boot. Before the start of trading, Starwood said that it earned $6 million, or 3 cents a share, on the period, down from $32 million, or 17 cents a share, in the comparable quarter of 2008. On a continuing-operations basis, Starwood would have earned 4 cents a share, down from 42 cents. Revenue slid to $1.12 billion from $1.47 billion.

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