Click here to learn about Starwood's Supplier Diversity Program.

Creating an environment of inclusion for our associates, guests and suppliers isn't just the right thing to do, it is the very core of our business.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts is a global organization that is built on diversity operating in over 97 countries, we maintain an associate and customer base as diverse as the world's population. With seven distinct brands - Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Le Meriden, W Hotels, Westin - and the recently announced aloft. Starwood also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts.  Each brand's distinctive appeal affords us a unique position in the global marketplace that caters to travelers of all backgrounds and from almost every culture. Therefore, creating an environment of inclusion for our associates, guests and suppliers isn't just the right thing; it is the very core of our business. Through our unique brand positioning Starwood is able to create build an emotional connection with our guests and create a superior service experience for each guest

Focusing on blending and mining the talents of our more than 145,000 associates from around the world and taking care of our guests who frequent our more than 960 Starwood properties is a commitment that begins at the top of our organization but is the shared responsibility of each associate. By creating national partnerships with associations focused on serving the needs and concerns of many types of visible and invisible differences - race, gender and sexual orientation, to name a few - we hope to have far reaching impact by making a difference in the markets in which we operate and for the people that encounter our organization.

In just our seventh year as a company, we have established a Diversity Council, made up of senior leaders in Starwood. Its role is to partner with other company leaders to drive the strategy forward with the support of a dedicated staff of change agents in our Office of Diversity and Inclusion.

Just as we approach other vital business imperatives, our Corporate Diversity Council has developed a strategy and multiyear plan for making accelerating change, particularly in the area of representation. As an organization, we're committed to setting the pace for the industry, raising the bar on how we deploy and develop associates - especially the 53% of our current associate population who are people of color - and, in the process understand how diversity yields business success. We continue to add new programs such as the Minority Hotel Owner and Developer Program which launched in 2005. The Managing Inclusion course which was originally launched in 2002 is now supplemented with a Global English Program designed to enhance the English language skills for associates for whom English is not their native language. In 2006 Starwood will pilot an Embracing Inclusion Program which also augments the Managing Inclusion course.

It takes time. We're committed to the task. Our associates must know that embracing diversity and learning how to mine different talents and opinions in a business like ours, improves our company, our product and all of us as individuals. Valuing individual differences is not new here; for years, we have offered domestic partner benefits for all of our associates without hesitation. Through inclusion training, we reinforce positive messages. By continuing to introduce metrics, like linking compensation to achieving diversity goals, and clarifying the diversity goals of each department, there is a shared understanding of how serious we are about making this an unconscious part of how we do business everyday, everywhere for everyone.

This is the Starwood way.