In our group business, the third quarter also brought signs of stabilization in cancellations and net production. Starting in October, short term group bookings and corporate transient travel started to improve leaving our RevPar trends for Q4 at only minus 7%.

We believe there is light at the end of the tunnel as business is following patterns similar to the recovery post 9/11. But we remain prepared for a challenging 2010. Just like prior cycles, ADR improvements will lag the general environment.

Recall as the economy began the slowdown in December of 2007, our business didn''t drop off until the summer of 2008. We would expect a similar lag on the way up as group and corporate rates are priced looking backwards and finally, as excited as we are about the strong results in Q4, they were the result of less negative not positive RevPar growth.

Looking ahead, it is safe to declare that our head winds of 2009, luxury brands, owned hotels, global footprint and even foreign exchange will soon be tailwinds. Moreover, supply growth in North America will drop below 1% in 2011 and beyond which means we are bullish on rates during the recovery cycle.

Looking further out, we foresee other important reasons to be confident in Starwood''s performance. As we shed hotel assets, we will yield cash and transform our Company to a business model that generates long term growth without major capital needs.

The transformation taking place in rapidly growing markets around the world implies a huge secular growth in demand for our high end brands. So with that as context, I would like to cover five topics.

First a quick review the fourth quarter and a look back on our accomplishments in 2009. Second, a discussion of our recent business trends and implications for 2010. Third, our efforts to own the upswing as business move up or down. Fourth, a reminder of why we remain bullish about our long term secular growth prospects. And fifth, a quick review of how we are pulling our four financial levers to create value for our shareholders.

So, let''s start with my first topic our fourth quarter results and a review of our 2009 accomplishments. We were able to beat EBITDA expectations by roughly $50 million. That includes as $25 million securitization gain that was not part of our original guidance. We also beat EPS by $0.29 per share, including that gain.

After four quarters of beating expectations solely by cutting costs, it is refreshing to see the beat come from both lower costs and better than expected top line results. Each of our brands performed well in the quarter. As we have been predicting for some time, guests are coming back to luxury.

With higher occupancy, RevPar for this segment was down roughly 3%. Regionally, Asia Pacific stood out with RevPar at plus 1%. Yes, folks, you heard correctly that was plus 1% but it does include 600 basis points of foreign exchange tail wind.

So looking back on 2009 if I were to put a head line on the year it would be, as the world fell apart, we got busy. Simply put, we didn''t let this crisis go to waste and Starwood is in the best shape ever. What did we accomplish in 2009? I will cover that across four areas, Finance, operations, growth and innovation.

First, we put our financial house in order, reducing total debt by roughly $1.1 billion from its peak in April. We ended the year with less than $3 billion in debt, beating our target. And that despite the delay of the $200 million tax refund into 2010. We sold several assets, including Bliss, the St. Regis retail space and the W San Francisco at an average multiple of 20 times EBITDA generating proceeds of $300 million.

We also worked with our vacation ownership team to generate $315 million in cash. The remaining $500 million was the result of operating cash flow and our deal with American Express. Vasant and his team also worked diligently to de-risk the company through maturity management.

Through debt reduction, as well as two bond offerings and a tender, we now have no maturities due over the next two years and have reduced our 2012 and 2013 maturities to roughly $500 million each.

We also took a hard look at the vacation ownership business. Let me say that I am convinced that we have a world class time at SVO, along with some of the best resorts and brands in the industry.

Nonetheless, in light of future expectations about the business, we spent much of the fourth quarter reviewing our projects. As a result, we recorded a $362 million impairment charge.

This charge reflects decisions to stop new development of current land holdings, curtail further development of existing projects and reduce prices to increase the velocity of cash generated from our inventory.

Second, in 2009 we pushed ourselves to improve overhead and operations. We completed the AVA process, creating run rate SG&A savings of over $100 million. At the property level, our lean operations team beat their goal of 50% flow through margins.

At the same time, each of our brands achieved record scores for guest satisfaction. For revenue management, we rolled out our analytical tools to 80 new properties. The tool improves forecasting so we can better manage our mix and push for higher rates.

In properties where this is implemented, we typically see a market share jump of about 2%. We also initiated efforts to make the most of the sales force. As a result, we now have a truly global sales force, allowing better sales support across regions and aligned with global customers.