STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS DEBUTS

INAUGURAL STARWOOD CAREERS MONTH IN ASIA PACIFIC

Starwood Careers Month To Focus On Talent Attraction And Retention; Poised To Add Over 13,000 Job Positions Across Asia Pacific By The End Of 2015

Singapore - Starwood Hotels & Resorts Asia Pacific announced today the debut of Starwood Careers Month, set to take place from 10 June to 9 July 2015.  The month-long event is a refreshed extension of the widely successful Starwood Careers Day – an Asia Pacific wide talent attraction exercise that has been running since 2012; and will feature a series of events and activities across close to 250 hotels, that focuses on both recruitment as well as internal employees.

“As Starwood forges ahead with footprint growth especially across Asia Pacific, we will continue to focus on our talent,” said Stephen Ho, President, Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. “The rapid growth and global success of Starwood is anchored on our associates and we believe that people want a better way to experience the world. The success we enjoy today as one of the world's most innovative hospitality companies is testament to how we have unified our culture around this shared belief.”

What Sets Us Apart: People, Brands, Community, Innovation  

Starwood Careers Month 2015 will focus on the tenets of passionate people, best brands by design, belonging to something bigger and embracing what's new. These focuses will be the driving themes throughout the month-long event – featuring not only a key 'recruitment day' with job openings but also comprising activities revolved around talent diversity, placing the spotlight on internal talent career growth and development.  Starwood Careers Month consolidates the strengths of Starwood's ten distinct hotel brands and offers potential and existing talents the unique opportunity to explore a career that offers highly sought-after regional and global exposure; and the chance to make a difference in the communities in which we operate.

Piloted in 2012 by Starwood Greater China, Starwood Recruitment Day was launched solely to recruit talent across China properties, given the vast growth of the region. Honing the overwhelming response of the event, it expanded to an Asia Pacific-wide initiative in 2013 to comprise of 200 participating hotels across 85 locations. In 2014, the event was renamed “Starwood Careers Day” – after Starwood Careers – Starwood's integrated Talent Management & Development system innovatively conceptualized for Asia Pacific to fit the region's unique needs.

“Starwood Careers Month is set to deeply resonate with our associates. It aims to further emphasize that it goes beyond talent attraction, to include talent development and retention to nurture talent for the next stage of their careers,” explained Claudia Albalaa, Senior Vice President, Human Resources, Asia Pacific, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. “With the debut of Starwood Careers Month, we are looking to cement our position as an employer of choice – the place to attain aspirations and build careers.”

Employer of Choice

Starwood's Equal Employment Opportunity policies guide our efforts and promote talent diversity through deliberate talent identification and career development approaches such as elevation of associates' capabilities, promoting from within and leveraging on our culture of diversity and inclusion – key components of Starwood's business strategy. Many of the company's hotels in Asia Pacific enjoy higher-than-industry-average employee retention rates, with Starwood senior leadership at the corporate level having an average tenure of 20 years. Starwood Careers Month also runs parallel to Starwood's announcement of a strategic roadmap focusing on female talent, announced in conjunction with International Women's Day earlier this year. The roadmap seeks to empower female associates through a series of equal-opportunity initiatives alongside leveraging on existing programmes aimed to prepare female associates to assume executive positions.

With a culture of care in place for potential as well as existing associates, Starwood Asia Pacific is well-poised to be the employer of choice. The awards and accolades that Starwood and many of its Asia Pacific hotels have continually won are testament to this positioning. Some of the recent 2015 wins include:

• HRM Awards 2015: Awarded Best CSR Practices (Starwood Cares and Global Citizenship); Top 10 for Best Employer Branding (Starwood Careers)  and Best Engagement Strategies (Starwood Cares)
• Aon Hewitt Best Employer - India 2015: Best Employer India 2015, Best Employer India 2015 for Women

As Starwood's fastest growing division with close to 300 hotels in operation and 30 hotels slated to open in 2015, Starwood in Asia Pacific presents a plethora of job opportunities as well as career growth prospects for our existing associates. Based on our growth trajectory, Starwood Asia Pacific anticipates up to 13,000 job positions to be added across the region before end of 2015.

For those ready to learn, grow and shine, a career at Starwood is like no other. For more information, please visit www.starwoodhotels.jobs.

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Notes to Editors:

Starwood Careers Month will feature a series of internal and external activities and events throughout 10 June to 9 July 2015, across close to 250 Starwood hotels and resorts, some highlights include: