Aloft Hotels to Expand Presence in Silicon Valley with the Signing of Aloft Sunnyvale

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.® (NYSE:HOT) today announced that its tech-forward Aloft brand will soon add a second hotel in Silicon Valley. Set to open in December 2014, Aloft Sunnyvale will feature 85 spacious loft-like rooms, forward-thinking technology, a lively social atmosphere and all of the brand's innovative programming. The adaptive re-use project will result in a total transformation of the Pacific Inn and will join Aloft Cupertino as the second Aloft hotel owned and developed by an affiliate of Shashi Corporation.

"Aloft Sunnyvale will resonate with next gen travelers and area professionals with its distinctive urban design aesthetic, intuitive technologies and live music, all within close proximity of the area's leading technology and aerospace companies," said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President, Specialty Select Brands for Starwood. "Aloft has experienced phenomenal growth and expects to cross the 100^th hotel milestone early next year."

Aloft Sunnyvale will be located across from Sunnyvale Town Center, a 36-acre mixed-use development with shops, restaurants and entertainment. The hotel will offer proximity to the offices of numerous businesses including Juniper Networks, LinkedIn, AMD, Yahoo!, Lockheed Martin, Honeywell, and Northrop Grumman. Also nearby are Town & Country Village Shopping Center, Onizuka Air Force Station and Carnegie Mellon University's Silicon Valley campus. Hotel facilities will include 500 square feet of flexible meeting space, a 24-hour fitness center, the brand's signature W XYZ bar, and re:fuel at Aloft – a one-stop grab & go food and beverage area.

"We are thrilled to collaborate with Shashi Group to develop our second Aloft in Silicon Valley on the heels of the successful debut of Aloft Cupertino," said Allison Reid, Senior Vice President of North America Development, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. "Adaptive re-use projects like this one are proving to be an important growth channel for the leading-edge Aloft brand, allowing us to enter new markets even more quickly."

"We are thrilled to bring one more world-class Aloft Hotel in partnership with Starwood Hotels and Resorts, to the heart of Silicon Valley," said Dipesh Gupta, CEO of Shashi Group LLC. "The Aloft brand has been very well received in Silicon Valley and it continues to build momentum with the tech savvy, global traveler in the innovation capital of the world."