Starwood Hotels & Resorts
Worldwide Inc. and Intel Corporation
recently announced a marketing agreement to enable wireless Internet access in 39 Sheraton, Westin, St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Four Points by Sheraton and W hotels in 10 countries and regions across Asia Pacific. This announcement further enhances the companies’ relationship established earlier this year to enable wireless Internet access in more than 150 Sheraton, Westin and W hotels in the United States.
Starwood and Intel will collaborate through Asia Pacific-wide marketing and in-hotel promotion to drive awareness of wireless 802.11, or Wireless Fidelity (WiFi) hotspots in participating Starwood hotels where notebook users can connect to the Internet and corporate networks wirelessly. In addition, Starwood’s wireless LAN solution will also enable the use of other wireless devices such as PDAs, pocket PCs and tablets. Hotspots will primarily be installed in hotel lobbies and meeting rooms to complement in-room high-speed Internet access already installed in most Starwood hotels.

“Frequent business travelers tend to be early adopters of new technology, especially technology that makes life on the road easier and more productive,” said Miguel Ko, President, Starwood Asia-Pacific. “By being among the first to offer Wi-Fi connectivity, Starwood hotels will provide business travelers with the convenience and connection they need when working on the road. We continue to aggressively research new technologies, and develop technology amenities that make traveling easier and relaxing for our guests.”

“From PC makers to service providers to airports, hotels and retail locations, we are seeing strong acceptance for Intel(R) Centrino(TM) mobile technology. Intel continues to work with companies such as Starwood to establish hotspots that will enable consumers and business travelers to have wireless access worldwide,” said Gerry Greeve, general manager, Intel Asia Pacific. “Through this agreement, we are enabling notebook users to have access to their information and entertainment in the lobbies and meeting rooms of the hotel.”

Intel Centrino mobile technology was specifically architected for mobility, providing an optimized and validated set of technologies to enable an outstanding mobile experience. The Intel Centrino mobile technology brand represents Intel’s best technology for mobile computing based on a new processor architecture and wireless LAN capability and is designed for an unwired computing experience while enabling extended battery life, outstanding mobile performance and thinner and lighter form factors.

To drive awareness of wireless Internet availability at participating hotels, Starwood Preferred Guest(R) members will have the chance to earn double Starpoints from Oct. 15 to Dec. 15, 2003, at selected rates when they stay at any of the participating hotels.

Related stories on ITN:

(15/09/2003)
W Hotels Now 100% Wired

(01/08/2003) Starwood First to Offer Online Vendor Registration

(01/07/2003) Starwood and Cendant Announce Multi-Brand Partnership
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