Starwood Hotels & Resorts Names Chad Waetzig Senior Vice President of Marketing for Sheraton Hotels; Ex-Marriott Executive to Spearhead Sheraton's New Marketing Strategy

In his new role Mr. Waetzig will be responsible for Sheraton'sworldwide marketing efforts including leading the research, analysis,strategy and execution for all brand-related marketing programsincluding advertising, promotions and brand partnerships. He will alsospearhead the marketing strategy supporting Sheraton's new brandpositioning centered around warm, comforting, connections.

"This is a pivotal point for Starwood as we continue to move froma real estate focused company to a world class lifestyle company,"said Mr. Benito. "Chad is a seasoned marketing professional who bringswith him a unique combination of classical brand marketing and hotelindustry experience that will help ensure that Sheraton's new brandmessaging is threaded into every nuance of the guest experience."

Mr. Waetzig joins Starwood from Marriott International, where hemost recently served as Senior Vice President, Select Service BrandManagement and was responsible for developing the business strategyand brand action plans for Courtyard, SpringHill Suites and FairfieldInn brands. During his five-year tenure with Marriott Mr. Waetzig heldseveral senior marketing positions including Vice President of BrandStrategy for Marriott's Extended Stay Lodging category where he ledthe creation of the long-term strategies and brand identity for theResidence Inn, TownePlace Suites, ExecuStay and Marriott ExecutiveApartments brands. Mr. Waetzig also spent more than ten years withbrand powerhouse Procter & Gamble where he held various roles in themarketing division including Brand Manager for Cover Girl cosmetics,the mass-market cosmetics leader. He additionally held several financepositions in the P&G Cosmetics business unit and in corporate internalaudit.

Mr. Waetzig will be based in the company's headquarters in WhitePlains, NY. He earned a B.S. in Business Administration, from theUniversity of Kansas with a strong focus on marketing and finance.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leadinghotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 850properties in more than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at itsowned and managed properties. Starwood(R) Hotels is a fully integratedowner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts with thefollowing internationally renowned brands: St. Regis(R), The LuxuryCollection(R), Sheraton(R), Westin(R), Four Points(R) by Sheraton,W(R), Le Meridien(R) and the recently announced Aloft(SM). StarwoodHotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premierdevelopers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownershipresorts. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.com.
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