Starwood Hotels Announces 2010 Employment Forecast

By: Starwood Hotels & Resorts | 2 Shares 73 Reads

Hospitality Giant Slated to Create More than 12,000 New Jobs in the Coming Year

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (BUSINESS WIRE) -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) today announces plans to add more than 12,000 new jobs to the global workforce in 2010 - with roughly half of these jobs to be located inside the U.S. in markets spanning from New York to California. The news comes on the heels of the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics' employment situation report issued Friday that indicates unemployment remained at 10% in December, with 15.3 million unemployed persons.

"Today, the travel industry employs 7.7 million Americans - more than double that of the auto industry - and travel is uniquely positioned to create even more jobs as the economy continues to recover," said Frits van Paasschen, President and CEO of Starwood. "After a year of hunkering down and cutting costs, companies are driving their topline again. By definition this means getting back on the road, which not only benefits their own business, but also helps spur job creation."

The majority of the new jobs will be created through the 80-100 new hotels Starwood and its development partners are slated to open this year globally. These hotels, which span Starwood's nine brands, will be located in key urban markets like New York City and Los Angeles, as well smaller markets like Biloxi, Miss. and Kalamazoo Mich. Hotels will offer a range of positions including general management; human resources; food and beverage; engineering and maintenance; housekeeping; spa and guest services.

These jobs are expected to be in high demand as in 2009 Starwood's hotels have seen record numbers of applicants. For example, at the soon-to-open W Hollywood Hotel & Residences, more than 10,000 people applied for its 400 positions. More than 10,000 people applied for 300 positions at the recently opened W Washington D.C. And at the Sheraton Augusta Hotel in Georgia, which opened in December, more than 400 individuals applied for its 30 housekeeping positions.

About Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 982 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, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis(R), The Luxury Collection(R), W(R), Westin(R), Le Méridien(R), Sheraton(R), Four Points(R) by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft(R), and ElementSM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts.

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 duration and severity of any global or regional economic downturns, the availability of financing alternatives at acceptable terms, 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. These risks and uncertainties are presented in detail in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Further, there can be no assurance that agreements will be entered into for the hotels in the Company's pipeline and, if entered into, the timing of any agreement and the opening of the related hotel. 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.

SOURCE: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

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