Starwood’s Sizzling Aloft Brand Surpasses Milestone 50th Hotel with Four Hot New Hotels Arriving on the Scene

White Plains, N.Y. - 12 September 2011
Celebrated as the fastest brand launch in hospitality industry history, four new Aloft® hotels around the world have catapulted the white-hot brand past its landmark 50th hotel opening. Aloft is the sizzling "style-at-a-steal" brand from Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT) that rocked the hotel industry when it launched in 2008. The debuts of Aloft New York Brooklyn, Aloft Zhengzhou Shangjie and Aloft Haiyang in China, and Aloft Coimbatore Singanallur in India, position the Aloft brand at a total of 52 hotels around the world. Designed to appeal to the next generation of traveler, the fast-growing brand expects to increase its global portfolio to more than 70 hotels by 2013.

“Aloft Hotels’ success comes from rewriting the rules of our industry, from the unprecedented pace of new hotel openings to its complete reinvention of the select-service category,” said Simon Turner, President of Global Development for Starwood. “Demand for Aloft in North America has been particularly healthy and the potential for additional growth in fast-growing economies like China and India is enormous.”

Aloft Gains Momentum in Key Global Markets
The rapidly growing Aloft brand went global right out the gate and now operates hotels in three, soon to be four continents, and six countries, including the United States, Canada, China, India, Belgium and the United Arab Emirates. Aloft will continue its global expansion with six additional hotels slated to open by the end of 2011, each in an international market, including China, India, Thailand, the United Kingdom, Columbia Panama, and Costa Rica.

The fastest-growing market for Aloft is Asia Pacific, which accounts for 12 of the 27 hotels in the brand’s current development pipeline. From its debut, Aloft struck a chord with developers in China. By the end of 2013, Aloft will have opened six additional new properties across this dynamic market, including hotels in Yancheng, Haiyang, and Guangzhou, southern China’s largest city. Aloft has also become a developer darling in India, where the brand will have four hotels by the end of 2011. The brand’s current Indian portfolio of three hotels will multiply to include the fast-growing urban hubs of Chandigarh and Bengaluru.

Earns Record High Guest Satisfaction Scores
Design-led, tech-savvy Aloft has also reported consistently high guest satisfaction scores since launch, reflecting the success of its modern, and vibrant design at an affordable price point. Aloft Hotels’ social guest experience, with the buzzing re:mixSM lounge and happening w xyz® bar, earned select hotels within the portfolio designations on TripAdvisor’s 2011 “Top 10 Trendiest Hotels in the US” and “Top 10 Trendiest Hotels in the World” rankings.

“Aloft has become a kind of living-social brand, not just a lodging option. Aloft is a place guests come to connect with design, technology, and each other,” said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President of Specialty Select Brands for Starwood. “The brand’s, guest satisfaction scores, strong revenue performance and ability to consistently steal market share are signs that Aloft is speaking the language of the next generation traveler and creating the kind of place where they want to spend their time.”