Starwood Hotels Dominates Internet Week New York

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT), an on-going innovator in the digital space, is hosting a series of technology focused panels and events during Internet Week New York, Monday, June 6, 2011 – Monday, June 13, 2011. Starwood, who recently topped the L2 Digital IQ Index: Travel by surpassing all other hotel groups in ranking, continues to demonstrate their commitment and participation in the digital space, recently launching the most expansive company-wide social media infrastructure to date, and now hosting nine unique events in line with the passions of their nine distinct brands represented in New York City.

"We are continuously focused on meeting the evolving needs and expectations of our guests worldwide,” said David Godsman, Vice President, Starwood Global Web. "Internet Week serves as a great platform for us to meet and exchange ideas with like-minded industry leaders, and we are proud to be able to host many of these important discussions at nine of our distinct hotels in New York City.”

Intimate Acoustic Concert with Starwood Preferred Guest

New to Live Nation Entertainment and Starwood’s "On Tour with SPG” initiative is a series of intimate, acoustic performances from top-notch talent at hotels around the world. The first performance will take place on June 10th in New York with Johnny Rzeznik of the Goo Goo Dolls. All week, guests and Internet Week goers will be encouraged to check-in on foursquare, from which five participants will be selected to attend the exclusive Johnny Rzeznik acoustic performance. The SPG promotion comes only weeks after Starwood announced guests and SPG members can now earn valuable Starpoints^® and Free Resort Night Awards for foursquare activity at Starwood hotels and resorts in nearly 100 countries.

Panel at Four Points by Sheraton Chelsea: Social Media Simplicity Toolkit

Playing off of the hotel’s ease and focus on simplicity, panelists from Facebook, TBG Digital, Buddy Media, foursquare, and Mashwork will discuss effective consumer engagement and how to avoid overcomplicating brand identity online.

Panel at The St. Regis New York: Keeping Luxury Alive in the Digital Space

From elite clientele to experiences beyond expectation, this panel will bring together key executives from L2, Mashable, Huffington Post, Tory Burch, and Buddy Media. Each brand has been uncompromising in their pursuit of excellence and continues to enthrall and delight consumers with their knowledge and efforts in social media. Moderated by Paul James, Global Brand Leader for St. Regis Hotels & Resorts and The Luxury Collection, the panel will discuss how to keep the mystery and exclusivity of luxury alive in the digital age where everything is overexposed and accessible.

Panel at Le Parker Méridien: A New Perspective on Creating a Visual Experience Online

Companies such as Shiraz Events, Moving Image & Content, Postano, Get Glue, and Gold Run have created platforms and content that brings to life the visual experience online by inspiring consumers through the context of rich media and compelling content.

Networking Event at Sheraton Tribeca: Cocktails and Conversation with MomCentral

Stay Connected… to technology… to family… to each other! Stacey Debroff, Founder of MomCentral along with Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG) will host Cocktails and Conversation with a dynamic and influential group of mommy bloggers.

Panel at The Westin Times Square: Harness the Native Power of Your Mobile Phone

Mobile experts from Razorfish, Invoke, Mobile Culture and Mobile Behavior will discuss revamping the traditional advertising model to showcase how mobile ad units are used to engage consumers by harnessing the unique power the mobile device provides. In addition, trade secrets and highlights from Westin’s recent mobile advertising campaign will be shared.

Networking Event at Aloft Harlem: The Next Thing in Tech Meet-Up

Social media start-ups and tech business leaders will celebrate the tech savvy DNA of Aloft during a night of networking and discussion around the next big thing in social media.

The Chatwal New York, a Luxury Collection Hotel: The Evolution of Public Relations

With the public relations industry rapidly evolving, executives have been forced to modernize their traditional PR approach and learn how to leverage social media without sacrificing the integrity and importance of traditional media relations. PR Executives from top luxury brands will discuss the changing media landscape and their quest to find balance between traditional and digital media.

Networking Event at W New York: More Check-ins, More Starpoints^®, More Music

W Hotels and foursquare will celebrate the culmination of Internet week and the recent partnership between SPG and foursquare with cocktails, music and mingling at W New York. Also, on hand, representatives will showcase W’s newly launched iPhone Application, featuring more than 55 hours of streaming music from DJs around the world curated by W Global Music Director Michaelangelo L’Acqua.

Element: Go Green with Condé Nast… Introducing Idea Flight

Whether you are traveling for work or play, join us at Element to relax and refresh while learning about Condé Nast's new app Idea Flight, designed to share ideas, presentations, documents and designs paperless and effectively on the iPad when you are on the road. Join Juliana Stock, Senior Director Marketing & Product Development at Condé Nast, to learn about the stylish platform that will make presentations soar and facilitate professional networking.

For more information on Starwood’s Internet Week presence, please visit http://www.internetweekny.com/events. Follow us @SPGinsider and stay on top of all of the event happenings with #StarwoodIWNY.

About Internet Week

Now in its fourth year, Internet Week began its first year with about 60 events, and worked with more than 80 Event Partners in its second year. The third year of Internet Week saw the addition of a Head Quarters at Metropolitan Pavilion, had almost 300 events, and almost 20,000 City Wide Attendees. Speakers and attendees have included everyone from Ed Norton and Jimmy Fallon, to Tim Armstrong and Arianna Huffington. The fourth year of Internet Week is projected to make the festival one of the largest digital celebrations in the world. Culminating with The Webby Awards on June 13, Internet Week NY is excited to have upwards of 250 events. Expanding the Head Quarters from 30,000 square feet to nearly 60,000, Internet Week is poised to lead the world in cultivating and enhancing digital and Internet culture.

About Starwood Preferred Guest

The SPG program’s breakthrough policy of No Blackout Dates at the world’s most sought after collection of hotels, reinvented the hospitality loyalty program when it launched in 1999. By creating a program centered on its members, SPG has developed the most passionate and knowledgeable membership base in the hotel loyalty space. Through its use of new technologies and innovative channels such as SPG.com, SPG.com/stayconnected, SPG.com/flights and others, SPG continues to innovate and lead the industry. By offering No Blackouts on standard rooms at over 1,000 hotels and resorts in nearly 100 countries, No Blackouts on hundreds of airlines, and once in a lifetime experiences available through SPG Moments at spg.com/moments, the program has proven to be a big draw for the world’s most frequent travelers, and a significant competitive advantage for Starwood. For more information about Starwood Preferred Guest please visit SPG.com or call (877) – STARWOOD.

About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 1051 properties in 100 countries and territories with 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, W®, Westin®, Le Méridien®, Sheraton®, Four Points® by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft®, and Element SM. The company boasts one of the industry’s leading loyalty programs, Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), allowing members to earn and redeem points for room stays, room upgrades and flights, with no blackout dates. 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 www.starwoodhotels.com.