We use SPG promotions like free weekends to drive business to the properties, to bring in new members and to grab share of wallet from existing guests.

Finally, by rationalizing brand standards and better procurement, we are reducing costs for our owners and partners. Third, during 2009, we kept growing. The bottom of the cycle is actually a great time to open new hotels. It means we have the newest and best product on the block in the first inning of an up cycle.

To that end we opened up 83 hotels in 2009 and signed contracts to open 77 more. We expect 2010 to be the third straight year of 8% plus gross unit additions. Meanwhile, over the last five years we have been cleaning up the Le Meridien and Sheraton hotel portfolios which means we eliminated 20% of the hotels in the system that were not up to brand standards.

We also reached several other milestones including our 500th hotel in North America, our 150th in Asia, our 50th in China and our 25th Westin in Asia. Starwood is on the cusp of two more milestones that highlight our global presence. Over the coming months, we will open our 1000th hotel in our 100th country. And fourth, as the innovation leader in the lodging industry in 2009, we kept the hammer down on our innovation agenda.

We reached 40 Aloft properties in the brand''s first 18 months. That marks the fastest growth in the history of select serve. We also launched Element, our first all lead certified brand. To support these new brands, along with Four Points by Sheraton, we created a dedicated select serve organization to focus on the future growth we expect from this segment.

We rolled out the Lincoln Sheraton at 95% of our properties around the world and guest uptake has been terrific with over 50% of our guests using the link. That’s more, by the way than use the gym, the bar or eat breakfast.

Coupled with a cool $6 billion spent over the past three years upgrading Sheraton, we are proudly re-launching the brand this year. I will share some more Sheraton stats with you in a few minutes.

So you can see I meant it when I said we got busy in 2009. Now I will move on to my second topic for the day. Recent trends and their implications for 2010. Leisure travel continues to rebound after the depths of 2009.

Group is improving with new leads up in the mid-teens. Business travelers have returned as witnessed by improving Monday to Thursday occupancy. New York, a good leading indicator saw occupancy levels of roughly 88% in Q4, that''s just short of the peak of 88.5% in 2007.

These trends bode well for 2010 as compared to even one quarter ago. As I mentioned before we remain cautious. The trajectory of the economic recovery is still fragile. And we know rate takes a while to build even when business turns, so RevPar will not turn positive right away.

Based on what we see unfolding today, we expect worldwide company-operated RevPar to be between flat and plus 5% in 2010 and RevPar in our owned hotels to be roughly flat year over year. Vasant will share in greater detail on recent trends by region and our baseline for 2010. So that leads me to my third topic. Why Starwood is well positioned to own the upswing in 2010.

First of all, the tail winds we described earlier should help in an up market. We were hit on all sides in 2009. The decline in luxury, dropping demand in major urban markets where we own hotels and international footprint exposed to foreign exchange fluctuations.

As the world economy rebounds, these should bounce back. Second, our portfolio of hotels has never been stronger. We have been painting the proverbial house building, opening and renovating our properties.

So, as of today, 60% of our hotels are either brand new or freshly renovated. Let me mention a few openings, as these iconic properties will redefine their markets such as the St. Regis''s in Atlanta and Mexico City, the W''s in Barcelona and South Beach, The Westins in Hyderabad and Mumbai, the Alofts in Dallas and Abu Dhabi and the Sheratons in San Juan and Chongqing.

Speaking of Sheraton, we are putting the finishing touches on our three year revitalization program. Bear in mind Sheraton is the most recognized hotel brand in the world. As I mentioned earlier, over $6 billion has already been spent with an additional $4 billion in new development planned for new development planned through 2012.

We have opened 65 new hotels, renovated 100 others, redesigned over 300 lobbies and rolled out over 100,000 new sweet sleeper beds. We also pulled the Sheraton flag off 40 hotels that could not meet our standards. That includes the Sheraton Manhattan. This hotel will operate as an unbranded property, so we can take our time to explore options with partners to either renovate or redevelop the property.

So what are the results of this revitalization? Measures for guest satisfaction, likelihood to return and meeting planner satisfaction are at historic highs. We feel great about where the brand is today and invite you to revisit Sheraton.

And to drive awareness of the brand''s re-launch, we are in the early stages of Sheraton''s biggest marketing campaign ever. Finally, we are also continuing our top line efforts from 2009, improving revenue management, optimizing our sales force and leveraging our powerful SBG program.

All of these factors together will ensure that we will indeed own the up swing which brings me to my fourth topic, our long term growth prospects. As I look back, we responded aggressively to the downturn but we always continue to see ourselves as a growth Company.

And put another way, the crisis may have delayed but it didn''t alter our growth strategy. If anything, our view is that the crisis has shown just how unstoppable the trend in wealth creation is around the world as 3 billion people enter the global economy.