With recession taking a go at hotel businesses and holiday travel the world over, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc reported a 46 percent plunge in its profits for the fourth quarter, due to severed costs and writedown for two vacation ownership projects.

The hotel and leisure company - operating the W, Sheraton and St. Regis brands - has posted a $79 million, or 43 cents a share, profit for the fourth quarter, as against the year-before profit of $146 million, or 74 cents a share. A greater part of the loss came due to the company's continuing operations of $45 million, or 25 cents a share.

With the company's discontinued operations excluded, Starwood's loss stood at 25 cents a share.

Owing to a sharp downturn in the travel industry, the revenue of Starwood - the White Plains, New York-based company - dropped 17 per cent to $1.33 billion from $1.61 billion.

With regard to the industry's characteristic criterion of reporting revenue per available room - for gauging a hotel's financial performance - the figures dropped 12.1 percent for Starwood's hotels all over the world.

For the year 2009, Starwood anticipates its first-quarter earnings - one-time items excluded - of between 2 cents to 7 cents per share. However, with the economic crisis in full swing, the company refrained from projecting a definitive view for the year ahead.