Marriott, Starwood Scramble To Teleconference Tech

Starwood and Marriott made separate, almost identical announcements today, each rolling out video teleconferencing systems at select hotels worldwide. Both will leverage Cisco’s TelePresence technology, although Starwood is hiring Tata Communications to do the installs while Marriott is using AT&T.

I would love to know who beat whom to the punch here. Anyway, on to the details…

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide’s "Telepresence Suites" are slated to open in 10 hotels by the end of the year, including at 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. Starwood also plans to expand the offering to  business markets including Brussels, Paris, Hong Kong, Singapore and Tokyo.

Marriott International is placing TelePresence into 25 hotels, with the first systems going online sometime in the fall. New York, San Francisco, Hong Kong, Shanghai, Frankfurt, London and Washington, D.C., are among the cities Marriott is targeting for install, according to USA Today’s Barb De Lollis. The Marriott, J.W. Marriott and Renaissance brands will get the bulk of the installs.

What exactly is a Telepresence Suite, you ask? It’s basically a really tricked-out board room with video conferencing. Users sit at a "virtual table" with colleagues who are located at other Telepresence Suites. It uses multiple high-definition video screens to mimic individuals around a table. In other words, it’s an inter-office business meeting without the travel.

Hotels charge hourly rates for use of the high-tech meeting rooms as they would for standard meeting facilities.