Sheraton Hotel Tahiti

CONTACT: Kim Marshall
310.230.9678
kim@themarshallplan.com

SHERATON HOTEL TAHITI
COMPLETES $10 MILLION WORTH OF ENHANCEMENTS IN 2006
Rooms Redone in Island Colonial Style; WiFi Connections;
New White Sand Beach; Recreated Public Areas & Enhanced Meeting Rooms

Papeete, Tahiti – The Sheraton Hotel Tahiti – built on the very land where Princess Pomare made her home a century before and opened in 1960 as the first Tahitian resort whose design was inspired by Polynesian culture – completed $10 million worth of enhancements in 2006. Now the most convenient hotel to the island nation’s international airport has completely redone the lobby & guest rooms and has added a white sand beach and property-wide Wireless Internet to its popular spa, fitness, leisure & business offerings. Specific enhancements include:

• Each of the spacious 200 rooms and suites have been completely remodeled in Island Colonial style – with mahogany & cane furnishings, coconut tree floors, plantation wooden shutters and marble bathrooms.
• A white sand beach was created along the hotel’s lagoon. The view from the beach reaches across the Sea of Moon to the velvety green peaks of the island of Moorea.
• The Sheraton Hotel Tahiti is now equipped with Wireless Internet access throughout the hotel (even poolside!), underscoring the modern features of this business/airport/leisure hotel in a capital city of an island nation!
• The hotel’s lobby now has been entirely redesigned with new floors, new retail and tour desk areas and a new reception desk crafted from hand-carved South Seas teak, making for a Tahitian arrival experience like no other. The focal point of the lobby staircase remains the one-ton, hand-made Shell Chandelier made of 8,000 mother-of-pearl shells from the famous Tahitians black pearl.
• The hotel’s meeting space -- the largest air-conditioned Banquet Rooms in French Polynesia -- is now equipped with elaborate technology that includes: simultaneous translation, WiFi connection, LCD/Power Point Projection capabilities, and sound & light enhancements.

Just three miles from Faa’a International Airport and one mile from the capital city of Papeete, the Sheraton Hotel Tahiti is an ideal base for exploring the island’s interior, visiting other islands in the archipelago or enjoying the capital’s cultural offerings like the Paul Gaugin Museum and the Pearl Museums, and the island’s famous Marche’ or open market.

As a local landmark, the hotel offers the natural advantages of history and tradition. The Polynesian style and the quality of Sheraton's service have turned the beloved historic hotel into a favorite destination for both the vacation and business traveler.

The most convenient hotel to the only international airport in French Polynesia, Sheraton Hotel Tahiti is also an ideal venue for the country’s emerging corporate and incentive meeting markets.

The Sheraton Hotel Tahiti caters to groups by offering activities like:

• Private themed parties, Beach BBQ’s, picnics or even open air moonlight cinemas on the new white sand beach.
• Cultural workshops to showcase French Polynesian arts, music and crafts.
• Dynamic Polynesian dance performances in the hotel’s beachfront gardens.

Companies are getting rave reviews for holding state-of-the-art meetings at the city hotel and then sending attendees for pre, post or incentive trips to the romantic Sheraton Moorea Lagoon Resort & Spa – a 30 minute ferry boat ride or 10 minute flight from Papeete – or the luxurious Bora Bora Nui Resort & Spa – a 40 minute plane ride from the capital city -- each the most lavish resorts on their respective islands. Also, added to the Starwood portfolio this year is the opulent new St. Regis Resort, Bora Bora, scheduled for a June 2006 opening.

The Mandara Spa at the Sheraton Hotel Tahiti embraces healing traditions of the islands to create exotic treatments using enchanting native ingredients such as coconut milk, ginger, fragrant tiare flowers and aromatic vanilla beans. Treatments can be experienced at the spa – including the popular couple’s massage – or in the privacy of your own room. The spa rooms have open-air balconies with spa gardens, massage tables and tubs for scented baths.

A fully equipped, glass-walled fitness center offers a full complement of free weights and exercise machines as well as a variety of fitness classes—all with a stunning ocean view! Aqua aerobics are offered daily in the resort’s infinity pool with a view of nearby Moorea – the legendary Bali Hai.

For more information, contact your preferred travel professional or 800 782-9488 or visit us on the Web at http://www.starwoodtahiti.com.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with approximately 850 properties in more than 95 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood® Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels and resorts with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis®, The Luxury Collection®, Sheraton®, Westin®, Four Points® by Sheraton, W®, Le Méridien® and the recently announced aloftSM. Starwood Hotels also owns Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts.