Friday, 8 February 2008：Starwood Hotels & Resorts revealed last week that its fourth-quarter profits suffered a 28 percent drop to US$146 million last year.
Despite this, the company’s revenue increased 2.4 percent to reach US$1.61 billion. Meanwhile, the group’s comparable worldwide revenue per available room also rose 13.3 percent. According to CNN Money, this result was higher than what Thomson Financial analysts had previously predicted.
“Starwood reported another terrific quarter, beating guidance on strength in our core lodging business. Performance was broad-based, but particularly strong in our international divisions, where system-wide RevPAR increased 20.2%. Our globally diversified pipeline grew to 120,000 rooms, and is skewed towards high quality rooms in the upper upscale and luxury segments where our brands have a commanding presence,” said Starwood Hotels & Resorts CEO, Frits van Paasschen.
With a weakening US economy in the background, Starwood have taken a more cautious approach to its outlook this year. The group is expecting an adjusted EBITA of between US$1.230 billion and US$1.300 billion for the 2008 full year.
