Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide has sold the 198-room W New York - The Court and the 122-room W New York - The Tuscany to St. Giles Hotels for US$78m (£50.5m, €57.8m).

Explaining the move, Denise Coll, president of Starwood North America, said: "In the vast majority of cases, when we sell an asset, we will continue to manage the property on a long term basis. However, in the case of W The Court and W The Tuscany, given that we have a significant, high profile and growing footprint in New York City combined with the evolution of the W brand, we made the decision to sell these legacy hotels without the W flag." The two properties debuted as W Hotels in 1999 and were among the W brand's first. Their sale leaves Starwood with four W hotels in the New York metro area, W New York, W New York - Times Square, W New York - Union Square and W Hoboken. A new 217-room W, the W New York - Downtown, is scheduled to open in the summer.

Elsewhere this year, the W brand will be making its appearance in London; Bali; Koh Samui, Thailand; St. Petersburg, Russia; and Guangzhou, China.