LONDON–(Business Wire)–
As a reflection of its dedication and passion for innovation, W Hotels
Worldwide, the hotel category buster, has partnered with Design Miami/ to
present the works of the 2010 W Hotels Designers of the Future Award. This
alliance will allow Design Miami/Basel to expand the benefits that the award
brings to the winners, including the chance for the commissioned projects to
have a life after the fair through practical applications within W`s hotels
around the world.
The 2010 W Hotels Designers of the Future Award recognizes designers working in
innovative ways – whether with new materials, new processes, or new approaches
and gives the next generation of design creatives the opportunity to present
newly commissioned work to a large and powerful audience.
The 2010 W Hotels Designers of the Future Awards winners were announced during
Salone del mobile in Milan:
Beta Tank
Graham Hudson
rAndom International
Zigelbaum + Coelho
These four winners were chosen by a selection committee comprising Ambra Medda,
Director, and Wava Carpenter, Associate Director, Design Miami/; Mike Tiedy,
SVP, Global Brand Design and Innovation, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide,
Inc; and Marcus Fairs, Editor-in-Chief, Dezeen.com.
“Innovation is at the core of W`s design philosophy,” says Mike Tiedy. “The work
of these four winners represents exactly the type of forward-thinking design
that W Hotels seeks to bring to its new and existing hotels around the globe.”
“W Hotels has been a design-led lifestyle brand and an innovator in its category
from its inception in 1998,” says Eva Ziegler, Global Brand Leader, W Hotels
Worldwide. “We are thrilled to partner with Design Miami/Basel and to be
involved in identifying the cutting-edge works of these upcoming and emerging
young talents and look forward to showcasing their work to a global audience at
W Hotels.”
While the prize has always featured unique and groundbreaking design work
embodying the most progressive attitudes of each year, this year`s award pushes
the drive towards experimentation further than ever. Exploring design work
created at the very edges of the discipline, the 2010 W Hotels Designers of the
Future Award will look beyond pure product and furniture design to embrace
conceptually and technologically vanguard work that bridges multiple areas of
practice including art, sociology, and science.
When W opened its first hotel in New York in 1998, it created a new era of hotel
design and established itself as the clear leader in the contemporary lifestyle
hotel space. Every W Hotel demonstrates a passion for cutting-edge design,
rooted in its location and interpreted in a contemporary cool way that is
brought to life through unique collaborations with upcoming as well as renowned
third party and in-house designers. From the Ottoman-referenced glam of W
Istanbul to the design inspired by the dual personality of the British man at
the upcoming W London – Leicester Square (Fall 2010), each new W Hotel begins
with a design philosophy formed by Starwood`s in-house design team and is then
fueled and delivered by a unique collaboration between the designers,
architects, graphic designers, and W`s Global Fashion and Music Directors.
ABOUT W HOTELS WORLDWIDE
W Hotels is an innovative, contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand and the
hotel category buster with 35 hotels and retreats in the most vibrant cities and
exotic destinations around the world. Inspiring, iconic, innovative and
influential, W Hotels provides the ultimate in insider access to a world of
“Wow.” Each hotel offers a unique mix of innovative design and passions around
fashion, music and entertainment. W Hotels offers a holistic lifestyle
experience that is integrated into the brand’s sensibility through contemporary
restaurant concepts, glamorous nightlife experiences, stylish retail concepts
and signature spas. With more than 10 years of proven success, W Hotels is on
track to more than double its footprint by 2011. W Hotels and W Retreats have
been announced for Downtown New York, London, Paris, St. Petersburg, Guangzhou,
Shanghai, Taipai, Bali, Koh Samui, and Verbier, among other international
destinations. For more information, visit www.whotels.com.
Starwood Hotels & Resorts, EAME Division
Jenni Benzaquen, +32 (0) 2204 5494
Director of External Communications
Mob: +32 (0) 496 199 194
jenni.benzaquen@starwoodhotels.com
or
For W Hotels Worldwide
Elaine Drebot/THINK PR, +1 212-343-3920
edrebot@thinkpublicrelations.com
Copyright Business Wire 2010
Starwood sues Hilton, alleges corporate espionage
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide Inc sued rival Hilton Hotels and two of its top executives for corporate espionage on Thursday, accusing the pair of ex-Starwood workers of stealing trade secrets to speed Hilton’s entry into the “lifestyle” market.
Starwood claimed the two executives at Hilton, a unit of Blackstone Group LP, stole “truckloads of documents” — more than 100,000 electronic files — before and after they changed jobs.
The Hilton executives named were Ross Klein, head of luxury and lifestyle brands, and Amar Lalvani, head of development for the segment. The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. Southern District of New York.
Both executives had been closely involved in Starwood’s W Hotels brand, said Starwood, which seeks monetary damages and a court order that would stop Hilton’s new Denizen “lifestyle” brand projects. Starwood operates the Sheraton, W and St. Regis chains.
“This … is a blatant case of theft of trade secrets, computer fraud and unfair competition,” Starwood’s general counsel, Kenneth Siegel, said in a statement.
Hilton, taken private last year in a leveraged buyout by Blackstone, declined immediate comment.
“Hilton Hotels Corporation is aware that a lawsuit has been filed, but we have not yet seen a copy. We will respond appropriately in due course,” Hilton spokeswoman Ellen Gonda said in an email.
Starwood is moving ahead with a $4 billion overhaul of its core Sheraton name despite an economic slump that has crimped business and personal travel.
The world’s No. 8 hotel group by rooms said its initiative — begun in 2007 — will bankroll new hotels, renovate existing rooms and involve changes throughout its network.
In its complaint, Starwood said the two executives were “aided and abetted by Hilton” and “stole massive amounts of proprietary and highly confidential Starwood information which was used to expedite Hilton’s entry into the lifestyle hotel market, reposition its luxury brands and substantially reduce its costs and risks of doing so.”
Hilton announced last month the launch of a new lifestyle brand called Denizen, led by Ross, with developments planned in cities from Beverly Hills to Abu Dhabi.
Starwood said that Klein was its former president of Starwood Luxury Brands Group, while Lalvani was formerly senior vice president of the same unit. The hotelier accused both men of recruiting Starwood employees over to Hilton, and said Hilton aided in the theft of “confidential information about Starwood’s W hotel brand.”
“The wholesale looting of proprietary Starwood information, including a step-by-step playbook for creating a lifestyle luxury hotel brand, unfairly enabled Hilton to launch a new brand in only nine months instead of the usual three to five years,” Siegel said.
The case number is: U.S. 09 CIV 3862.
(Reporting by Deena Beasley; Editing by Edwin Chan; Editing by Gary Hill)