Sheraton Hotels & Resorts transforms the Hotel Lobby Experience with Microsoft Surface (United States)
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Sheraton Hotels & Resorts transforms the Hotel Lobby Experience with Microsoft Surface (United States)
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Category: North America & West Indies / Carribean islands - United States -
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2008-08-18
Sheraton Hotels in Five U.S. Cities Debut Microsoft Surface, Putting a Virtual Concierge and Unique Entertainment Experiences at Guests’ Fingertips
Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT) today introduced an entirely new hotel guest experience with its debut of Microsoft Surface, Microsoft’s first commercially available surface computer. Featuring easy-to-use technology and a natural way of accessing information, Surface units will be placed in the lobbies of select Sheraton hotels in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Microsoft Surface breaks down the traditional barriers between people and technology, providing simple and instant access to information and entertainment. Sheraton will be the first hotel to offer Microsoft Surface, creating a new Sheraton brand experience that will bring interaction, connectivity and a social setting to the lobby, providing guests with an entirely new way to explore local tourist highlights and enhance their hotel stay.
Microsoft Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form factor that several guests can use simultaneously. The intuitive user interface works without a traditional mouse or keyboard, allowing people to interact with content and information in a more natural and familiar way, by using their hands and gestures. Sheraton will unveil Surface today at five hotels: Sheraton Boston Hotel, Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers, Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers, Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport Hotel and Sheraton Seattle Hotel.
With each unit, Sheraton is offering a customized version of the Microsoft Surface developed suite of applications to provide entertainment and information about local attractions. Surface, and these unique applications, are designed to serve the needs of the brand’s core guests who are social individuals seeking to share the travel experience with each other. The placement of the Surface units in Sheraton lobbies enables guests to leverage and experience the offerings in a social way.
Three highlighted applications are:
CityTips® – At the guests’ fingertips are the Surface 360-degree satellite maps and tools to search for local restaurants and bars, entertainment, recreation, shopping, transportation and services, such as banks and pharmacies. Guests can discover all a city has to offer by simply moving their hands across Surface.
Sounds of Sheraton – Microsoft Surface also serves as a lobby-based digital jukebox, enabling guests to create personal music playlists by choosing selections from Sheraton’s exclusive offering of Sony BMG artists, including John Legend, Kenny Chesney and Lauryn Hill.
Sheraton Snapshots – Guests can explore Sheraton hotels and resorts throughout the world by simply browsing the Surface photo library of Sheraton resorts and hotel properties to help them plan for future business or leisure travel.
“Sheraton is redefining the hospitality experience by offering our guests technology that will allow them to interact with each other and our hotel in a revolutionary way,” said Hoyt H. Harper II, senior vice president for Sheraton. “We are proud to partner with Microsoft to offer the groundbreaking Microsoft Surface product, which will enable our guests to stay informed, connected and entertained while traveling.”
“We’re excited to be working with Sheraton in its efforts to feature innovation and redefine the guest experience in its hotel properties,” said Pete Thompson, general manager, Microsoft Surface. “Surface takes a common activity, such as looking up information about a local city, and transforms it into an intuitive and social way for hotel guests to plan their visit. We believe this is just the beginning of how Surface will completely change the hotel guest experience.”
Sheraton Locations Featuring Microsoft Surface
* Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers – 811 7th Avenue 53rd Street, New York
* Sheraton Boston Hotel – 39 Dalton St, Boston
* Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers – 301 East North Water Street, Chicago
* Sheraton Seattle Hotel – 1400 6th Ave, Seattle
* Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport Hotel – 600 Airport Boulevard, Burlingame
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