Starwood announced a partnership with Tata Communications and Cisco TelePresence in June 2009 to develop the suites in ten of its properties worldwide.
The W Chicago City Centre and Sheraton on the Park Sydney are the first to offer the new facilities.
Starwood launched the facilities via a virtual event using the new technology, which brought together participants more than 9,000 miles apart through Cisco’s ultra-high definition video, superior audio and life-size imagery.
The next hotels to offer the service will be the Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers and Sheraton Centre Toronto, which will come online in the next few months, followed by the Westin Los Angeles Airport and properties in Dallas, San Francisco, Brussels, Paris, Hong Kong and Frankfurt.
Starwood also announced an industry first, with reservations for the telepresence rooms available instantly using the Tata Communications online portal, which accepts all major credit cards.
‘The launch of the new Cisco TelePresence meeting suites at the W Chicago and Sheraton on the Park Sydney is another example of Starwood’s commitment to innovation by offering our clients an exciting, new meetings solution that facilitates a ‘face-to-face’ meeting in the same room regardless of global location,’ said Christie Hicks, senior vice president of global sales for Starwood.
Peter Quinlan, director, managed telepresence services, Tata Communications, added: ‘We hope that through this partnership with Starwood, even more business executives can take advantage of the productivity this technology offers and save on costs that can be invested in their core competencies.
‘We intend to make telepresence available to as many users as possible with our global network of public telepresence rooms and our suite of managed telepresence network services for businesses.’
Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide operates 992 properties in nearly 100 countries under the St Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Méridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft and Element brands.
Background from e-tid.com:
Marriott and Starwood add meetings technology (01/07/2009)
And see also:
Starwood looks for 2010 turnaround (08/02/2010)
ITM investigates virtual vs face-to-face (01/12/2009)
‘Face-to-face’ online service launched (10/11/2009)
CWT unveils virtual meetings option (05/11/2009)
Worktopia adds virtual meetings solution (09/10/2009)
Amex pilots virtual meetings solution (19/08/2009)