Starwood Hotels & Resorts Names Frits van Paasschen, Former Ceo of Coors Brewing Company, Chief Executive Officer

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Names Frits van Paasschen, Former Ceo of Coors Brewing Company, Chief Executive Officer

September 13, 2007

Bruce Duncan to Continue as Chairman


    WHITE PLAINS, NY, Sept. 13 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ --
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT)
announced that Frits van Paasschen, former President and
Chief Executive Officer of Coors Brewing Company, will join
Starwood as Chief Executive Officer, effective September 24.
 Mr. van Paasschen, who will relocate to the White Plains
area, succeeds Bruce W. Duncan, who has served as interim
CEO since April and will continue as Starwood's Chairman.

    Mr. van Paasschen, 46, has over 20 years of experience
with consumer-focused, global lifestyle brands.  During his
two and a half years as President and CEO of Molson Coors
Brewing Company's largest division, Coors Brewing Company
increased its volumes, sales, and profits.  He reversed
nine quarters of decline in the flagship brand, Coors
Light, while growing market share and significantly
improving Coors' ranking in an independent survey of
distributor satisfaction.  Prior to joining Coors in 2005,
Mr. van Paasschen spent seven years at Nike, Inc., where he
was most recently responsible for its business in Europe,
the Middle East and Africa, and increased revenues from
$2.5 billion to nearly $4 billion and doubled profits over
a four-year period. 

    Mr. Duncan said, "Frits is an extremely talented
and proven leader with demonstrated success in driving both
top and bottom-line growth on a global scale across a
variety of leading consumer lifestyle companies.  Our
company has never been in a stronger position, with a
robust pipeline of approximately 105,000 rooms, of which
over 70% are in the upper upscale and luxury segments and
approximately half of which are outside of North America. 
We remain focused on developing and opening new properties,
with 80 new openings planned for this year and over 100 for
next year.  With the combination of our strong foundation,
exceptional in-house talent and Frits' unique perspective,
strong performance in managing global brands and deep
international experience, the Board is confident in
Starwood's continued profitable growth.  I look forward to
working with him as we position our company for an even
stronger future."

    Stephen R. Quazzo, Chairman of the Governance and
Nominating Committee of the Starwood Board, said,
"During a rigorous five-month search process, the
Board met with many highly qualified candidates, but we
unanimously concluded that Frits is the right leader for
our company at this time.  He is a creative, dynamic and
team-oriented executive with superb marketing skills, an
approachable style, and broad experience driving consumer
demand and delivering superior results across a number of
marquee global brands.  We are very pleased with the search
process and delighted to welcome Frits to Starwood."

    "On behalf of the Board, I would like to thank
Bruce Duncan for his tireless dedication and effective
leadership during his six months as interim CEO,"
continued Mr. Quazzo.  "Bruce has been instrumental in
guiding the continued success and strong performance of the
company during a period of transition and I'm gratified
that Starwood will continue to benefit from his insight and
experience as he resumes his position as non-executive
Chairman of the Board."

    Mr. van Paasschen said, "I am thrilled to be
joining Starwood, a company that is raising the bar for
service, innovation and excellence in a dynamic and
competitive industry.  This is an exciting period of
transformation for Starwood as it establishes itself as a
leading global hotel operator and lifestyle company with
many outstanding brands, and I look forward to working with
its strong management team and talented associates to build
on Starwood's solid foundation and take the company to the
next level of performance and market impact in the years
ahead."  

    Before joining Nike in 1997, Mr. van Paasschen spent
two years as Vice President, Finance and Planning at Disney
Consumer Products and earlier in his career was a management
consultant for eight years at McKinsey & Company and the
Boston Consulting Group.  He also serves as a director on
the Boards of Jones Apparel Group Inc. and Oakley Inc.  He
holds an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School and a B.A.
degree from Amherst College. 

    Conference Call and Webcast

    Starwood conducted a conference call and webcast for
the investment community on Tuesday, September 4, 2007 at
9:00 a.m. ET. A playback of the call will be available
through September 14, 2007.  To access the playback, please
dial 877-656-8905 (within U.S.) or 334-323-9859 (outside
U.S.) and enter conference ID number 55823378.  The
conference call was available through simultaneous webcast
in the Investor Relations/Press Releases section of the
Company's website at http://www.starwoodhotels.com .  

    About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.(R)

    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), W(R), Westin(R), Le M¨¦ridien(R),
Sheraton(R), Four Points(R) by Sheraton, Aloft(TM), and
Element(TM). 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
http://www.starwoodhotels.com .

    Note: This press release contains forward-looking
statements within the
          meaning of federal securities regulations. 
Forward-looking      
          statements are not guarantees of future
performance and involve 
          risks and uncertainties and other factors that
may cause actual 
          results to differ materially from those
anticipated at the time the     
          forward-looking statements are made. Further
results, performance  
          and achievements may be affected by general
economic conditions  
          including the impact of war and terrorist
activity, business and 
          financing conditions, foreign exchange
fluctuations, cyclicality of    
          the real estate (including residential) and the
hotel and vacation 
          ownership businesses, operating risks associated
with the hotel,  
          vacation ownership and residential businesses,
relationships with 
          associates and labor unions, customers and
property owners, the  
          impact of the internet reservation channels, our
reliance on 
          technology, domestic and international political
and geopolitical  
          conditions, competition, governmental and
regulatory actions 
          (including the impact of changes in U.S. and
foreign tax laws and 
          their interpretation), travelers' fears of
exposure to contagious 
          diseases, risk associated with the level of our
indebtedness, risk 
          associated with potential acquisitions and
dispositions, and the 
          introduction of new brand concepts and other
risks and uncertainties. 
          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
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.


    For more information, please contact:

    Investor Relations Contact:
     Jason Koval
     Tel: [phone]

    Media Contacts:
     K.C. Kavanagh
     Tel: [phone]

     Carrie Bloom
     Sard Verbinnen & Co
     Tel: [phone]