STARWOOD’S REGIONAL ‘SPG MILLIONAIRE GOLF CHALLENGE’ HELD AT SAADIYAT BEACH

Dubai, UAE - December 28, 2010 - Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), the award-winning loyalty programme from Starwood Hotels & Resorts, held its first regional ‘Millionaire’ Amateur Golf Challenge at the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club, Abu Dhabi Thursday 09 December

Robert Smith a SPG member since 1994 and a keen golfer with a handicap of  16. was the lucky tournament winner. Robert walked away with one million Starpoints - equivalent to up to 100 free nights’ stay at many of the 1,000 Starwood hotels and resorts around the world.

SPG also handed out prizes for the ‘Longest Drive’ to Jason Ashley, ‘Closest to the Pin’ to Nick Hedley and the ‘Winning Team’ Omar Thabit, Said Thabit, Jason Ashley and Bill Collins. Prizes included vacation packages to W Koh Samui, Aloft Abu Dhabi, Sheraton Abu Dhabi and Sheraton Khalidiya in Abu Dhabi

During the tournament, players – including SPG members, Starwood executives and other VIP guests - were treated to the finest hospitality, relaxing massages, a variety of food and refreshments and tournament polo-shirts.

Follow the success of the inaugural ‘Millionaire’ Amateur Golf Challenge; SPG now plans to host the golf tournament on an annual basis through its Moments program. Moments allows SPG members to transform their Starpoints into once-in-a-lifetime, money-can’t-buy experiences. 

To learn more about SPG and its Moments program, please visit www.spg.com.

Earn unlimited rewards every night of the week with the new SPG® Great Weeks, Grand Weekends promotion. From January 3 through April 15, 2011, SPG members will earn double Starpoints® every night, plus earn 500 bonus Starpoints every Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday night. Register at SPG.com/greatweeks by March 31, 2011.
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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, thelobby.com and others, SPG continues to innovate and lead the industry. By offering No Blackouts on standard rooms at 940 participating properties, 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 travellers, 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 1025 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.  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.