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he studios, which use Cisco TelePresence technology on AT&T's network, now are open in the New York Marriott East Side Hotel and the Bethesda North Marriott Hotel near Washington, D.C. The full first phase of the rollout—which will include the JW Marriott Marquis Miami, the Renaissance Washington, D.C, the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway, the JW Marriott San Francisco, the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott, the Grosvenor House JW Marriott Hotel in London, the JW Marriott Hong Kong, the Renaissance Sao Paolo and 15 other properties—should be complete by the summer, said David Marriott, Marriott's chief operations officer for the Americas Eastern region.
First announced last summer (BTNonline, June 30, 2009), the studios now accept reservations only via a Web site set up specifically for the GoThere Virtual Meetings brand. Marriott set the usage rate at $500 per hour, with at least one hour of use required with a reservation.
Following the first phase, Marriott plans to continue worldwide expansion of the studios and might consider properties outside of the Marriott, JW Marriott and Renaissance brands, Marriott said.
While remote conferencing technology often is looked at as a competitor to live meetings, Marriott said hotels with the studios are expecting it to boost business, attracting new, smaller meetings of 20 or fewer people in scattered locations. "We view this as an opportunity to tap into a new revenue stream," Marriott said today at an event demonstrating the studios.
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