14 August 2008

Sheraton is redefining the hospitality experience by offering its guests technology that will allow them to interact with each other and our hotel in a revolutionary way

Hoyt H. Harper II, senior vice president for Sheraton Sheraton Hotels & Resorts is to debut Microsoft Surface, the technology corporation’s first commercially available surface computer. Units will be placed in the lobbies of select Sheraton hotels in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle.

Sheraton will be the first hotel to offer the product, creating a new brand experience designed to bring interaction, connectivity and a social setting to the lobby, providing guests with a new way to explore local tourist highlights and enhance their hotel stay.

Microsoft Surface is a 30-inch display in a table-like form that several guests can use simultaneously. The user interface works without a traditional mouse or keyboard, allowing people to interact with content and information by using their hands and gestures.

With each unit, Sheraton is offering a customised version of the Microsoft Surface developed suite of applications to provide entertainment and information about local attractions. The CityTips application uses the Surface 360-degree satellite maps and tools to enable guests to search for local restaurants and bars, entertainment, recreation, shopping, transportation and services. The Surface units also serve as lobby-based digital jukeboxes. The Sounds of Sheraton application enables guests to create personal music playlists from Sheraton’s exclusive offering of Sony BMG artists. The Sheraton Snapshots application allows guests to browse the Surface photo library of Sheraton resorts and hotel properties to help plan for future business or leisure travel.

“Sheraton is redefining the hospitality experience by offering its 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 travelling.”

“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.”