Starwood Hotels & Resorts Announces the Appointment of Stephen Ford as Vice President, Area Managing Director for South China and General Manager of Sheraton Sanya Resort

SANYA, China, March 3 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts recently has announced the appointment of Mr. Stephen Ford as Vice President, Area Managing Director for South China region and General Manager of Sheraton Sanya Resort.

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A native British and a seasoned hotelier with more than 40 years professional working and management experience in the hospitality industry, Mr. Ford has recently transferred from India where he had held the position of Regional Vice President, India, Bangladesh and Nepal since 2006. Mr. Ford has been with Starwood Hotels & Resorts since 2001, where he started as General Manager of The Westin Bund Center, Shanghai.

In his new role, Mr. Ford will play a key role setting strategic direction for the South China Hotels/Resorts with overall responsibility for all existing properties and those under development in both Hainan Island and South China. He will head the team at Sheraton Sanya Resort who continuously produce excellent Sheraton experiences for all guests and visitors, and will further consolidate Sheraton Sanya Resort's top position in the Resort industry.

Sheraton Hotels & Resorts

Helping guests make connections at more than 400 hotels in 75 countries around the world, Sheraton is revitalizing its iconic brand while continuing its aggressive international expansion by adding 54 hotels and 20,000 guestrooms by 2009.

Sheraton Hotels is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 930 properties in approximately 97 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 Meridien(R), Sheraton(R), Four Points(R) by Sheraton, and the recently launched Aloft(SM), and Element(SM). 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 or events and involve risks and uncertainties and other factors that may cause actual results or events to differ materially from those anticipated at the time the forward-looking statements are made. 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 and events 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.)