For Immediate Release

VANCOUVER ISLAND, British Columbia, Canada - August 8th, 2003 - Starwood Hotels Worldwide, one of the leading global hoteliers, has claimed a trademark infringement towards Starpointe Resorts of Nanoose Bay, British Columbia. Starwood Hotels brands include: Westin, Sheraton, St Regis, W Hotels, Sheraton Four Points, and The Luxury Collection.

Starwood Hotels Worldwide owns, leases, or manages a total of 748 hotels with approximately 227,000 rooms in 79 countries. Starwood Hotels Worldwide has branded its reward points "Starpoints" and has pending trademarks in both Canada and the US - filed in June of 2002.

Starwood claims confusion is created in the marketplace between Starwood Hotels and Vancouver Island based Starpointe Resort Club due to the similarities in their names and nature of business. Starwood has issued a writ in the Federal Supreme Court of Canada and has ordered Starpointe to cease and desist using their pending trademarks, "Starpoint" and "Starpoints."

"We have no choice but to change our name," says Andrew Pearson, President of Starpointe. "Whether or not we have a legal argument is a moot point. We cannot afford to fight a corporate juggernaut like Starwood. We are a relatively small family owned and operated resort hotel developer and simply don't have the resources - to contest the issue legally on the scale which Starwood can.

The new name for Starpointe is "Aviawest". "We plan on making the transition to the new name in the next 30 days," says Pearson. "The only difference our owners will notice is a new name in the marketing materials," adds Pearson. "Even the design of the company logo will stay the same. It's business as usual at our properties."

The name Aviawest was chosen for its uniqueness, positive associations with travel and geographic location. There are no other companies in North America using the name, and Aviawest Resorts was able to secure the dot com domain www.aviawest.com

Starpointe estimates that the cost of changing their name to "Aviawest" will be in the range of C$50,000 - C$80,000. However, the estimate to defend the legal proceedings in court are upwards of C$500,000.

Aviawest is currently in the planning phase of developing a 120 suite private residence club on the corner of Humboldt, Blanshard, and Fairfield Streets in Victoria BC. Plans also call for a restaurant, retail shops and a spa. Construction is expected to start in the winter of 2003/4, with completion in the spring of 2005.

Aviawest Resorts is the developer of Pacific Shores Resort & Spa and develops resort hotel and vacation properties on the west coast of Canada. Aviawest vacation club sales grew by 42% in 2002, and is on track for even stronger growth in 2003. Aviawest currently owns or manages approximately 198 hotel and condominium suites in five locations, four on Vancouver Island and one in Vancouver.