Starwood Hotels & Resorts Announces the Westin Lombard, Yorktown Center in Lombard, Illinois; Westin Debuts in Thriving Chicago Suburb with 500-Room Hotel and Conference Center.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE:HOT), the Village of Lombard and Mid-America Hotel Partners, LLC announce a new hotel and conference center in Lombard, IL. The property will be known as The Westin Lombard, Yorktown Center, situated in the heart of DuPage County's East-West Corridor on the eastern edge of Yorktown Center, 20 miles west of downtown Chicago. The hotel begins construction today with a groundbreaking ceremony and is due to be completed within 24 months.

"We are thrilled to be working with Mid-America and to be managing The Westin Lombard, Yorktown Center," said Sue Brush, senior vice president of Westin Hotels & Resorts. "Lombard is located in a vibrant and energetic section of DuPage County, appealing to business, group and leisure travelers seeking Westin's distinctive renewal experience."

"Westin is a progressive and innovative global brand that continually surpasses its guests' expectations," said Tom McGuigan, managing director of Mid-America Hotel Partners, LLC., the project's developer and asset manager. "The Westin brand is consistently rated as the finest in the upper-upscale segment of the industry serving as a perfect match with the Village of Lombard's vision for this property. This hotel will be a huge asset to the many corporate offices located in the Lombard area, such as Sara Lee and McDonald's Corporation, as well as a meetings destination."

The L-shaped hotel tower will soar to 18 stories in height and offer private terraces for several suites. Westin's signature service and amenities will abound throughout the hotel, including the popular Heavenly Bed(R), Heavenly Bath(R) in each guest room, the newly-introduced WestinWORKOUT(R) Powered by Reebok fitness center and WestinWORKOUT guest rooms.

The Westin Lombard, Yorktown Center will cater to business and social clientele alike. Fully equipped with more than 50,000 square feet of meeting space and 15,000 square feet of pre-function space, this new facility will be capable of accommodating large conventions, exhibitions, corporate retreats, association social gatherings, weddings, exclusive celebrations, and private dining events. A distinctive element of the meeting space is a 20,000-square-foot Grand Ballroom, the largest of its kind in the market.

Harry Caray's Restaurant Group will operate a 10,000-square-foot Harry Caray's Restaurant, and its new restaurant concept, a 6,000-square-foot, Holy Mackerel! American Fish House in the Westin. Harry Caray's Restaurant, named for the late Hall of Fame baseball announcer, first opened in the heart of Chicago's River North in 1987 and is now one of the most nationally recognized restaurants in the Midwest.

Westin Hotels & Resorts, with 121 hotels and resorts in 31 countries and territories, is owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and was ranked "Highest in Guest Satisfaction Among Upscale Hotels Chains." in the J.D. Power and Associates' 2004 North America Hotel Guest Satisfaction Study(SM) and voted Best Domestic Hotel Chain by Global Traveler Magazine. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 750 properties in more than 80 countries and 120,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood(R) corporation is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis(R), The Luxury Collection(R), Sheraton(R), Westin(R), Four Points(R) by Sheraton, and W(R), Hotels and Resorts as well as 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

(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 include the risk that the transaction itself will not be consummated, that the anticipated benefits of the transaction will actually be realized as well as other risks and uncertainties 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.)

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