Goodwill and Intangible Assets - Intangible Assets (Detail) - USD ($) $ in Millions	Dec. 31, 2015	Dec. 31, 2014
Goodwill [Line Items]
Other	$ 15	$ 17
Intangible assets, gross	894	846
Accumulated amortization	(232)	(212)
Intangible assets, net (excluding goodwill), Total	662	634
Trademarks and trade names [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Indefinite-lived intangible assets	306	310
Management and franchise agreements [Member]
Goodwill [Line Items]
Management and franchise agreements	$ 573	$ 519

Accumulated amount of amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (a)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26713463&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsAccumulatedAmortization
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	credit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before amortization of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance with a finite life.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_GoodwillLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Amount of assets, excluding financial assets and goodwill, lacking physical substance and having a projected indefinite period of benefit.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph (b)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26713463&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Amount before accumulated amortization of intangible assets, excluding goodwill.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IntangibleAssetsGrossExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Sum of the carrying amounts of all intangible assets, excluding goodwill, as of the balance sheet date, net of accumulated amortization and impairment charges.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 45
-Paragraph 1
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=6388964&loc=d3e16212-109274

Reference 2: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/presentationRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 350
-SubTopic 30
-Section 50
-Paragraph 2
-Subparagraph ((a)(1),(b))
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=26713463&loc=d3e16323-109275

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_IntangibleAssetsNetExcludingGoodwill
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Gross carrying amount before accumulated amortization as of the balance sheet date of intangible assets not otherwise specified in the taxonomy having a reasonably expected period of economic benefit.

+ References

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_OtherFiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsGross
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:monetaryItemType
Balance Type:	debit
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_IndefiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=us-gaap_TrademarksAndTradeNamesMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_FiniteLivedIntangibleAssetsByMajorClassAxis=hot_ManagementAndFranchiseAgreementsMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: