Starwood Hotels & Resorts Doubling Footprint in China

"Our celebration of our more than 100 hotels in operation and 100 hotels in the pipeline marks another significant milestone for Starwood's growth and development inChinaas we double our footprint in the region," saidVasant Prabhu, Vice Chairman and Chief Financial Officer of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Our success inChinareflects our first mover advantage, the strength of our brands and the entrusted partnerships we have fostered with our developers, partners, and guests since our first landmark debut with The Great Wall Sheraton Hotel inBeijingin 1985."

Starwood has already opened 11 hotels inChinain 2012 and expects to open another 13 hotels by year's end.

Demand for World Class Hospitality Brands

"With more high end hotels inChinatoday than any of our competitors, our long lead will be enhanced by the record number of new hotels we have in our pipeline," saidSimon Turner, President, Global Development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Chinacontinues to present tremendous growth opportunities for Starwood as we drive to introduce our valued, world class brands into new markets that do not yet have a major international branded hotel."

Sheraton, in particular, will continue to play a leading role in maintaining Starwood's premier position in the region, as its growth trajectory is on track to reach 90 hotels inGreater Chinaby 2016. Driven by strong demand in second and third tier cities, Sheraton is slated to open seven new hotels acrossChina, including Changbaishan,Dalian, Huzhou,Hefei, Jiaozhou,FuzhouandMacaoby the end of 2012.

In addition, Sheraton will celebrate its 75th anniversary with another distinguished landmark as the brand opens Starwood's largest hotel globally, Sheraton Macao Hotel, Cotai Central, which will also become the largest hotel in Macao. Located on Asia's own bustlingLas Vegasstrip, Sheraton Macao will open the first phase of its 3,863-room inSeptember 2012and be fully open by the end of first quarter of 2013. Featuring a main ballroom that is the size of over 11 basketball courts combined, the hotel will offer over 15,000 sq m of meeting space with access to a further 5,000 sq m within the Cotai Central complex. Leisure facilities will include three restaurants, poolside cafes and the world's largest Sheraton Club. The opening will further strengthen Starwood's lead asChina's largest luxury and upper-upscale international hotel group.

The Westin brand boasts a pipeline of 11 new hotels set to join its existing portfolio of 16 award-winning properties, including The Westin Bund Center Shanghai and The Westin Guangzhou.

Globally renownedLe Meridienfeatures 8 hotels inQingdao,Chongqing,Xiamen,Shanghai,Shimei Bay, Sheshan,TaipeiandHong Kong, with an additional 6 hotels in the pipeline.

Four Points by Sheraton has the company's second largest development pipeline inChina. Benefiting from Sheraton's strong brand awareness, sister brand Four Points by Sheraton manages 15 hotels, with another 20 poised to open - primarily in growing second and third tier cities and tertiary markets.

After its debut inBeijingin 2008, Starwood's new Aloft brand continues to make inroads with 5 hotels in operations and 6 new hotels in the pipeline, making a total of 11 hotels by 2016.

Golden Age of Luxury Travel

The rise in high net worth individuals inChinaand around the globe has also paved the way for the expansion of Starwood's luxury brands, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection and W Hotels.

"As demand grows, we are seeing a change in luxury consumption as travelers become more connected, more diverse, and more sophisticated. The same trends can be observed with our Chinese travelers," saidStephen Ho, President,Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Luxury is no longer a one-size-fits-all proposition. What once was prescribed is now personalized with less formality and more fun. At Starwood, we feel uniquely suited to benefit from these major shifts. With nine luxury hotels operating under our St. Regis, Luxury Collection and W brands inGreater China, and 18 more in the pipeline, we are the true leader in this space."

Industry innovator W Hotels will debut the first W hotel in mainlandChinawithW Guangzhouby the beginning of 2013. It is also preparing to open another 4 hotels by 2017 inMacau,Beijing,ShanghaiandChangsha.

Since its first debut with The Astor Tianjin Hotel in 2008, Starwood's distinctive Luxury Collection brand will have quadrupled its footprint by the end of 2012 with the openings of The Hongta Hotel, Twelve at Hengshan inShanghai, and The Royal Begonia onHainan Island,China's first Luxury Collection resort. Five more hotels are scheduled to debut under the Luxury Collection by 2016 in key cities includingDalian,Hangzhou, Suzhou,Xiamenand Nanning.

After a growth spurt of three openings in 2011, including hotels inShenzhen, Sanya, andTianjin, St. Regis has fast become a favorite for visiting heads of state and celebrities. With current presence inBeijing, Lhasa, Sanya andShenzhen, St. Regis will debut more than six hotels inChangsha,Macau,Chengdu, Lijiang, Zhuhai andNanjing.

Demand for upper-upscale hotel brands in resort destinations are also on the rise, as a limited supply of rooms in popular destinations are being outstripped by the growing numbers of Chinese luxury travelers.

"Our portfolio of distinct brands and our brand recognition acrossChinaand around the world, allows us to enter multiple resort destinations like Hainan, leveraging collective local scale without cannibalizing business, so we get more than our share of new business," saidQian Jin, President,Greater China, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Home to seven properties inHainan, Starwood is set to open five more hotels by the end of 2014 to respond to growing demand. Demand for resort destinations also extends from tropical getaways such as Hainan. In July, Starwood will open its first dual-branded ski resort - the Westin and Sheraton Changbaishan."

Building Entrusted Partnership across Industries

Chinais the richest source of new Starwood guests around the globe. To date, more than half of Starwood's guests inChinaare Chinese nationals - a figure that is expected to rise as the loyalty base of the award-winning Starwood Preferred Guest program continues to grow.

"We've seen Chinese enrollment in Starwood Preferred Guest membership jump over 62 percent by tailoring SPG offerings to meet the needs of local travelers," said Qian. "Success of growing our loyalty base inChinais underpinned by the entrusted partnerships we have built across industries from sports, airlines, financial services, and food & beverage to entertainment, and this allows us to extend lifestyle benefits and loyalty beyond reasons to our guests."

Frequent flyer programs in partnership with Starwood Preferred Guest inGreater Chinainclude: Cathay Pacific'sAsia Miles, China Eastern Airlines' Eastern Miles, Air China's Phoenix Miles and China Southern Airlines' Sky Pearl Club.

Another important partnership is with Pegasus Solutions and TravelSky Technology Limited,China's state-owned global distribution system (GDS). This vital alliance makes Starwood's growing portfolio of over 1,100 hotels worldwide available to 7,000 travel agents inChina.

"Our goal is to offer greater convenience and ease the ways our customers do business with us," added Qian. "Our hotels inChinawill continue to reap the rewards of domestic and inbound travel, and our global portfolio will tap growing outbound demand through the Pegasus/TravelSky connection."

Adding 10,000 Local Jobs per Year and Committed to Nurturing Talent

With nearly 30 years of legacy inChina, Starwood is committed to nurturing local talent, hiring and training staff wherever new hotels and resorts are opened, and enriching local communities. Starwood now employs over 38,000 associates inGreater China, and expects to increase that number by 10,000 jobs per year based on the current expansion rate of 23 new hotels a year on average.

An increasing number of hotel General Managers are of Chinese descent - 29 compared to only four in 2009 - with many executives returning from overseas to take up senior positions. Also, the total number of Chinese associates at managerial levels has more than doubled since 2009 to 2,577, in line with the doubling of Starwood's portfolio of hotels in the country.

Investor Day

Starwood will be hosting an Asia Pacific Investor Day inShanghaitomorrow, onThursday, June 21st.Vasant Prabhu,Stephen Ho, andQian Jinwill be presenting from8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m.China Standard Time, followed by tours of selected Starwood properties inShanghai.

A webcast of the presentation will be provided on Starwood's investor relations website at http://www.starwoodhotels.com/corporate/investor_relations.html.