International hotel chain Starwood has unveiled a major revamp of its Starwood Preferred Guest loyalty program, targeting elite travelers with a host of new benefits.

The chain, which operates Sheraton, Westin, W Hotels, Le Meridien and St Regis, says that it’s responding to the global uptick in travel to target the ‘sophisticated’ market, which it believes has become ‘jaded’ about traditional schemes.

Among the most notable aspects of the change is a new service called Your24, which will let frequent travelers pick their own check-in and check-out times within a 24-hour timeframe — so if you check in at one property at 10 PM, you won’t have to check out until 10PM the next day.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts opened its tallest St. Regis property last week in Shenzhen, China, with plans to continue its global expansion in 2012.

Following recent openings in Bangkok, Tianjin and Sanya Yalong Bay, The St. Regis Shenzhen marks the brand’s fourth hotel opening in Asia in the last six months.

The St. Regis now occupies floors 72-100 of the landmark Kingkey 100 building, the tallest building in the city.

Hotel chain Starwood has released new details of its soon-to-open luxury property in Paris, set to open on February 14.

The W Paris revealed December 14 that the structure has been conceptualized by the Rockwell Group, the designers behind the W New York.

The hotel has been designed along the theme of light, playing on Paris’s nickname, Rockwell said, combining ‘unexpected materials’ with high-tech touches.

International hotel chain Starwood has announced the reopening of a landmark Florence hotel, complete with a suite from top designer label Bottega Veneta.

The St Regis Florence, originally the Grand Hotel Florence, has been treated to a ten-month restoration which has seen significant interior changes to the 18th century palace, ranked among the city’s most significant buildings.

The hotel boasts 81 rooms and 19 suites, decorated by local artisans and including antique furniture such as hand-carved gold leaf frames and crystal chandeliers.

Starwood’s Preferred Guest program has topped a list of the ‘best value’ reward programs from US website NextAdvisor.

Preferred Guest, a loyalty program which rewards hotel guests for their stays in Starwood-operated brands such as W Hotels, Sheraton, Westin, Le Meridien and St Regis, offered a worth of $0.021 per point when redeemed for a hotel stay.

It isvconsiderably higher than competing programs such as Marriott Rewards and Hilton HHonors, whose points were worth $0.008 and $0.005 respectively.

InterContinental has retained its grip as the world’s largest hotel chain, according to the annual ranking of hotels by accommodation analyst MKG Hospitality.

The British company, which operates brands including Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaze and InterContinental, offers a whopping 647,161 rooms around the world, more than any other hotel chain despite growing slowly over the past year.

In second place in the listing released this week is Wyndham Hotels, which offers 612,735 rooms but is gaining quickly (adding 2.5% more rooms in the last year).