Starwood 2004 Annual Report Download - page 4

utive Officer and I welcome this
ecial company, and even more
ival at
e recovery
travel, 2004 saw significant
d our early year expectations
tinues to outperform our key
hare improvement and
r share price was up more
e.
the most robust in our history
and franchise agreements) as
in the world. W and St. Regis
rently under development, and
nd Westin won 21 of the 43
stest growing upper upscale
providing us the resources
e last year’s acquisition of
like in our Starwood Vacation
and recession resilient
ed relatively recently, I must
nder and now our Executive
the company through the
other travails, and positioned
in the recovery.
ork, Washington DC, Boston,
uccess in 2004, but our success
n productivity initiatives,
impact and delivered healthy
ed into 2005. We’ve also
g guests to our websites, and
nded websites grew 38%,
lus, our brands are resonating
reating the W brand,
wing our St. Regis brand and
brands, Starwood has set
Steve Heyer
Chief Executive Officer
I’ve been lucky enough to be asked to lead a company that has been an innovation machine in
an industry that has not typically distinguished itself, with a management team comprised of the
best and the brightest in the business. But we’re an ambitious lot and I firmly believe that our
brands can achieve iconic status in much the same way as Starbucks, Nike and Apple. Our team
is on board and we’re after it! These people are intense and passionate about winning.
One of my missions is to nurture Starwood’s edge, its creative spark. In 2005 we will dial up our
focus on brand building and service innovation, creating clear and powerful brand positioning,
signature services and, most importantly, an emotional engagement with our guests. As the world
moves to an experiential economy, it is essential that we move from selling the hotel room, to
selling branded experiences. This is an important endeavor that will have long lasting impact on
the company’s performance.
We have great expectations for 2005. Economic conditions remain favorable with strong growth
in the U.S., momentum in Asia, continued recovery in key South American cities and, if past
trends hold true, the beginning of a recovery in Europe. Demand for hotel rooms is expected to
grow strongly this year, and supply growth remains historically low –a winning dynamic for us.
On the development front, we are expanding our development teams worldwide to further
strengthen our pipeline. We still have a lot of room to grow. Whereas many of our competitors
have saturated major markets with multiple brands, there are still many viable locations where
Starwood has significant room for distribution growth.
We plan to continue to identify and divest non-strategic assets, directing those proceeds to
higher growth initiatives or returning that capital to you. We expect to optimize hotel REVPAR
and margin flowthroughs via prudent revenue management and our cost-containment and
productivity initiatives. Starwood remains the only lodging industry giant to embrace Six Sigma,
yielding a unique change culture ready for tomorrow’s innovations and initiatives for growth.
On behalf of all of Starwood’s associates, I thank you for your continued support.
We look forward to an exciting 2005.