Stylish Sustainability Initiative Launches Tonight in New York City; W Hotel Guest Rooms around the World to Have Sheets and Bedside Chargers Made In Part with Recycled Plastic Bottles

NEW YORK, April 13, 2015 – W Hotels Worldwide, part of Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. (NYSE: HOT), today announced a new partnership with global music artist and entrepreneur will.i.am and The Coca-Cola Company to shake up the hotel industry, one guest room at a time. Together, they are bringing the EKOCYCLE™ brand to W Hotel rooms around the world, changing sheets and changing minds.

W Hotels will soon begin re-making their beds with new EKOCYCLE™ branded sheets, which are made in part with rPET (polyester partially made using recycled plastic). Rolling out into W Hotels in North America first with global properties to follow, each king size sheet set utilizes approximately 31 recycled 20 oz. plastic bottles – which equates to more than 268,000 plastic bottles across all W Hotel beds in North America. The result is bedding that is as luxurious as it is environmentally conscious, ensuring that guests continue to have the same incredibly comfortable sleep they have come to expect from a night in a W Hotel bed. Guests can rest assured that they won’t feel a difference, as the more sustainable sheets are made using the same high quality process as the W brand’s current bedding, with the only difference being the use of recycled polyester instead of new polyester.

W Hotels and the EKOCYCLE™ team didn’t stop with changing the sheets. Together, they wanted to recycle even more plastic, so they turned their attention to the nightstand and created a colorful little bedtime companion. The “Mobile Charger and Accessory Valet” (MCAV), is a multi-tasking USB charging device that also acts as a jewelry/watch stand and an alarm clock. Developed by Miniwiz, an emerging engineering firm from Taipei focused exclusively on post-consumer recycled material design applications, the MCAV is partially created out of three recycled plastic bottles and is available in six colors, including gold, red, hot pink, black, white and silver.  These devices will soon be bedside in every W Hotel room around the world, powering up devices and waking up guests from Los Angeles to London.

“W guests want to live a stylish, more sustainable lifestyle and this partnership is a way to allow them to do so when they are on the road,” said Sarah Doyle, Global Brand Director of W Hotels Worldwide. “Working with will.i.am and Coca-Cola’s EKOCYCLE™ brand allows us to ‘change’ our sheets, reset our alarm clocks and pledge to make a difference one W Hotel stay at a time.”

Embedded in the ethos that “waste is only waste if we waste it,” the idea for EKOCYCLE™ was born after will.i.am was inspired to turn waste left behind at a Black Eyed Peas gig into recycled sought-after objects and joined forces with The Coca-Cola Company.  EKOCYCLE™ has a simple ambition: work with iconic brands to help consumers recognize that items they consider waste today can live on as brand new lifestyle products they can use tomorrow. As longtime partners, Starwood Hotels & Resorts (NYSE: HOT), the parent company of W Hotels, and The Coca-Cola Company share a similar vision when it comes to global sustainability, which makes W and EKOCYCLE™ the perfect pair.  

“I am very excited to bring the EKOCYCLE™ movement to W Hotel guests around the world,” said will.i.am. “When it comes to finding partners for the EKOCYCLE™ initiative, Coca-Cola and I want to work with those who understand our message: that being more sustainable can be stylish. The new EKOCYCLE™ sheets and chargers that will now be at W are further proof that we can transform so much of the way we live through more sustainable, recycled materials.”

Bea Perez, Vice President and Chief Sustainability Officer at The Coca-Cola Company said: “The EKOCYCLE™ brand mission is to excite and inspire people around the idea that waste can be valuable and create new, desirable products. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has been a likeminded innovator of sustainable solutions and longtime partner of Coca-Cola. We’re delighted that W Hotels is joining the EKOCYCLE™ movement and providing hotel guests worldwide with the opportunity to experience sustainable luxury with EKOCYCLE™ brand sheets.”

The official partnership kicks off tonight with an exclusive celebration at the flagship W New York, hosted by W Hotels, will.i.am and The Coca-Cola Company. W New York revolutionized the hotel industry when it debuted in 1998, making it the perfect location for yet another hospitality revolution: this unique blending of style with sustainability. For guests who want to continue to sleep eco-chic long after they check out, the sheets (starting at $207) and MCAV ($75) will soon be available for purchase online at whotelsthestore.com.

For more information about W Hotels, please visit www.whotels.com. To learn more about the EKOCYCLE™ brand initiative, visit EKOCYCLE.com.

Join the conversation by following @WHotels @iamwill @EKOCYCLE @CocaCola. Every change you make counts. Tell us how you will live more sustainably in 2015 with #THREADSCOUNT.

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About W Hotels Worldwide W Hotels is a contemporary, design-led lifestyle brand and the industry innovator with 46 hotels and retreats, including 17 W-branded residences, in the most vibrant cities and exotic destinations around the world. Inspiring, iconic, innovative and influential, W Hotels provides the ultimate in insider access, offering a unique mix of cutting-edge design and passions around fashion, music and entertainment. W Hotels offers a holistic lifestyle experience that is integrated into the brand’s sensibility through contemporary restaurant concepts, glamorous entertainment experiences, stylish retail concepts, signature spas and inspiring residences. With more than 16 years of proven success, W Hotels is on track to reach 60 hotels by 2017. W Hotels have been announced for Changsha, Shanghai, Amsterdam, Abu Dhabi, Mumbai, Dubai, Jakarta, Panama, Muscat, Chengdu, Suzhou, New Delhi, and Kuala Lumpur, while upcoming W Retreats include Goa, India. For more information, visit www.whotels.com or www.facebook.com/whotels. To live the W Hotels lifestyle 24/7/365, visit www.wresidences.com. Follow @WHotels on Twitter and Instagram.

About EKOCYCLE™ With a shared interest in making a positive impact on our world, The Coca-Cola Company and will.i.am have come together to create the EKOCYCLE™ brand. The EKOCYCLE™ initiative is a platform that captures The Coca-Cola Company’s and will.i.am’s vision of a world where waste becomes a resource to create new things. At the core of the initiative is the idea to partner with lifestyle brands to help promote sustainability through aspirational, yet attainable products made in part from recycled materials.

EKOCYCLE™ products repurpose items such as plastic bottles for use as recycled content in fashion-forward lifestyle products through the help of today’s biggest trendsetters and brands. To further reinforce The Coca-Cola Company’s commitment to promote recycling, the Coke® brand name – spelled backwards, “EKOC” – is embedded into the EKOCYCLE™ moniker.

The EKOCYCLE™ brand offers a full line of apparel and lifestyle product. To learn more about the EKOCYCLE™ brand initiative and products visit EKOCYCLE.com. EKOCYCLE can also be found on Facebook at facebook.com/EKOCYCLE and Twitter at twitter/com/EKOCYCLE.

About The Coca-Cola Company The Coca-Cola Company (NYSE: KO) is the world's largest beverage company, refreshing consumers with more than 500 sparkling and still brands.  Led by Coca-Cola, one of the world's most valuable and recognizable brands, our Company's portfolio features 20 billion-dollar brands including, Diet Coke, Fanta, Sprite, Coca-Cola Zero, vitaminwater, POWERADE, Minute Maid, Simply, Georgia, Dasani, FUZE TEA and Del Valle.  Globally, we are the No. 1 provider of sparkling beverages, ready-to-drink coffees, and juices and juice drinks.  Through the world's largest beverage distribution system, consumers in more than 200 countries enjoy our beverages at a rate of 1.9 billion servings a day.  With an enduring commitment to building sustainable communities, our Company is focused on initiatives that reduce our environmental footprint, support active, healthy living, create a safe, inclusive work environment for our associates, and enhance the economic development of the communities where we operate.  Together with our bottling partners, we rank among the world's top 10 private employers with more than 700,000 system associates.  For more information, visit Coca-Cola Journey at www.coca-colacompany.com, follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/CocaColaCo, visit our blog, Coca-Cola Unbottled, at www.coca-colablog.com or find us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/the-coca-cola-company. About will.i.am A multi-faceted entertainer, creative innovator and philanthropist, will.i.am is best known for his work with The Black Eyed Peas. As a producer, will.i.am has also worked with some of the music industry’s biggest names including Michael Jackson, Rihanna, Usher, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, Britney Spears, David Guetta and film composer Hans Zimmer. Recognized and honored by numerous industry organizations for artistic, business and philanthropic achievements, will.i.am is the recipient of multiple GRAMMY® awards, a Latin GRAMMY® award, an Emmy® award, two NAACP Image Awards®, the BMI® President’s Award and a CLIO Award.  will.i.am's i.am.angel™ Foundation (www.iamangelfoundation.org) supports young people through programs focused on STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts, math) education via after-school tutoring and activities that build STEAM and coding skills.