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There Are Now 1,000 Starwood Hotels to Choose From

The W Hollywood, which just opened in January of this year.

This really boggles the mind. Starwood Hotels has opened its 1,000th hotel today with the Sheraton Qiandao Lake Resort in China. But Starwood is not slowing down any time soon.

Beyond its 1,000th hotel, Starwood expects to open 80-100 additional hotels in 2010 – 70% of which will be outside the United States, with the majority in Asia Pacific. In China, Starwood is slated to open more than 20 hotels this year. Growth is also accelerating in India where Starwood already has 26 hotels and plans to increase its portfolio by 60% by the end of 2012.

All of this has us thinking we should probably get our Starwood Preferred Guest account going again. It seems like there will be a Starwood hotel wherever we want to go in the world now. But then, what fun would that be? Always staying at a Starwood hotels?

In related news, it's good to be Starwood's CEO. That's because Frits Van Paasschen made $8.2 million last year. That was mostly due to bonuses and stock options but it doesn't hurt that his salary is $1 million a year. And we're guessing he doesn't have to pay for hotel rooms either.

Hotel Parties / W Hotels / DC Hotels / Frits van Paasschen / → All Tags

The Congress of Cool is Now Officially In Session (And Probably a Little Hungover)

Where: 515 15th St Nw [map], Washington, DC, United States, 20004

The W Washington DC opened to guests back in July, and has racked up some pretty partisan reviews ever since. But last night a scene-y DC crowd — the Congress of Cool, if you will — reached across the aisle to join in and play dress-up for the W’s official opening bash.

As we all know, the W loves splashy parties awash in velvet ropes and a purple carpet. And for this installation they hired John Legend for a rooftop performance (and to up the crowd’s star ante). This being DC, and with the W across the street from the White House, it’s also worth noting that Obama’s aide Reggie Love stopped by for the festivities. On the celeb circuit, actress-singer-songwriter Emmy Rossum was also in attendance. You can watch a short video here for a better sense of the scene.

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