Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. and its award-winning Starwood Preferred Guest(R) (SPG) program today announced the launch of spg.com/resorts, a new website to help travelers plan and purchase the perfect resort escape.

Starwood’s research shows that leisure guests buy vacations based on the specific experiences they want to have while traveling. That’s why the new spg.com/resorts centers on what visitors will see and experience while staying at any of Starwood’s over 200 resorts around the world. The site draws on images, including live webcams and actual resort footage, rather than words to show each breath taking resort. In addition, the “Discover Your Perfect Resort” search process, the new resort compare feature, and social media plug-ins all provide travelers with the most relevant content they need to pair the perfect Starwood resort with their vacation vision.

“One of our members’ favorite SPG benefits is being able to stay in our inspiring collection of unmatched luxury resorts around the world. We developed spg.com/resorts to make it easy for them to explore each of these incredible resorts.” said Chris Holdren, Senior Vice President of Starwood Preferred Guest. “The highly visual website highlights the experiential aspect of travel through stunning photography along with new resort search and social functionality.”

The launch of the site also coincides with the unveiling of the inaugural user-generated “SPG Member Favorites” list. For the first time, SPG invited thousands of its most well traveled members to identify their favorite resorts across the following nine categories: Best Beach Resort, Most Romantic Retreat, Best Exotic Escape, Best Family Experience, Best Golf Getaway, Best Island Paradise, Best Spa Indulgence, Best Winter Adventure and Best Small Wonder. For a complete list of all SPG Member Favorites visit spg.com/memberfavorites. Additionally, SPG polled top travel professionals to identify the best Starwood resorts by region, including Best in U.S., Best in Asia and Best in Europe. For a complete list of travel professional recommendations visit spg.com/travelprofessionalfavorites.

To celebrate the launch of the site, the Starwood Preferred Guest program invites travelers to bid adieu to one of the coldest winters with the “SPG Pack Your Bags Giveaway.” From March 15 through April 14, 2011, a new Member Favorites category will be swapped out every Tuesday and Friday for guests to choose where they would like to win the trip of a lifetime. Ten lucky winners will receive a five-night stay, plus airfare, to the resort of their choice. Members may enter once a day. To view official rules and enter, visit spg.com/packyourbags.