Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc.'s second-quarter earnings rose 28% on a tax benefit as world-wide revenue per available room slid sharply.

by BY TESS STYNES

The hotelier also cut its 2009 earnings estimate again, this time to 65 cents a share from its prior view of $1.10. Analysts' surveyed by Thomson Reuters recently anticipated a smaller cut to 76 cents.