HONG KONG, 9 JULY 2009 – Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide will roll out public telepresence rooms in five Starwood hotels by the end of this year.
Going by the agreement between Starwood and India-based Tata Communications, the first telepresence suites are planned for Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, Sheraton on the Park in Sydney, Sheraton Centre Toronto Hotel, The Westin Los Angeles Airport and W Chicago-City Center.
Looking ahead, Starwood anticipates expanding the offering to hotels in key international business markets such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Tokyo, Brussels, and Paris. The new telepresence service will provide the hotel group and its guests an “in person” meeting experience with participants in rooms around the world.
Starwood is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with 960 properties in 97 countries and 145,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. Starwood Hotels is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchisor of hotels, resorts and residences with the following internationally renowned brands: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, W, Westin, Le Méridien, Sheraton, Four Points by Sheraton.
Adding value to conference business
“Starwood has made a name for itself as an innovator in the hotel industry, and it is crucial that we continue to evolve our meetings offerings to address the needs of today’s consumers,” said Christie Hicks, senior vice president of global sales for Starwood.
“The partnership with Tata Communications is yet another opportunity for us to bring innovative, cutting-edge technology to our properties, and add true value for our business and conference facilities’ guests,” Hicks said.
"With global companies under increasing pressure to foster productivity at the least cost, the need for public telepresence rooms is greater than ever. Telepresence that is available on a per use basis enables affordable, high quality communication for the small and medium business or remote/regional office worker," said Paul Waadevig, senior consultant on unified communications, Frost and Sullivan.
“Because of the decentralised nature of business today, without public room deployments, telepresence can never achieve the critical mass needed to realise the full potential of this exciting video technology,” Waadevig said.
