W Santiago Hotel will be the first W property in Sth America. Plans were announced, to build its first hotel in Santiago and is scheduled to open in 2008.

W Santiago, the brand's fifth international property scheduled to open in the next three years, following Barcelona, Hong Kong, Shanghai and Dubai, will be ideally located across from Plaza Peru, on Avenida Isidoro Goyenechea, Santiago's most vibrant business thoroughfare.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc., W's parent company, entered into a joint venture with Territoria Group to develop the 205-room hotel, which will be part of a larger mixed use building with retail space and offices.

W Santiago will feature all of the brand's celebrated comforts including the signature W Living Room experience and Whatever/Whenever, the hotel's 24-hour concierge service that can provide with whatever guests want (from a pair of running shoes at 2 a.m. to private jet service), whenever they want it. The hotel will indulge guests and residents with a nightlife destination and signature restaurant with an outdoor dining terrace and a Bliss Spa. More than 37,000 square-feet of meeting space will make the W Santiago one of the largest meeting facilities in the city, ideal for local meetings and conventions.

"Exploring South America for the perfect spot, we realized that Santiago is one of the few capital cities in the world with access both to ski slopes and beaches," said Ross Klein, President of W Hotels Worldwide. "This concept - having the best of all worlds in one place - is one we identify with in every W city. Whether you're in San Diego or Seoul, you'll find the best of design, art, fashion, music and technology right in our own Living Rooms."

W hotels is present in Latin America through the W Mexico City located in the upscale Polanco area. W is now expanding in this region with the opening of its first property in South America.

"We are thrilled that the first W Hotel project to debut in South America will be in Chile. The people of Santiago, the nation's capital, are delighted that W has chosen this city as the first site, it validates the city's reputation as a key destination within South America," said Osvaldo Librizzi, President of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Latin America.

The property will be designed by Gary Handel of NYC-based Handel Architects, LLC, whose renowned work includes awards from the American Institute of Architects, the Boston Society of Architects, the Urban Land Institute, the Congress for the New Urbanism, and the National Commercial Builders Council. Handel Architects is a full-service design firm with over 70 architects, interior designers, and LEED accredited professionals in New York and San Francisco.