Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel opens first public telepresence studio in Mayfair, London for video conferencing

Online, October 5, 2010 (Newswire.com) - Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel, is opening a studio for Virtual Meetings by Marriott with AT&T* and Cisco TelePresence, enabling clients to hold virtual meetings with customers and colleagues around the world. This is Marriott's first public Virtual Meetings by Marriott telepresence meeting facility in London and is part of a global roll-out at Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels and Renaissance Hotels around the world.

Virtual Meetings by Marriott uses a rapidly growing and increasingly popular, easy-to-use telepresence technology that enables groups to meet and collaborate in multiple locations worldwide in real time. By combining high-definition video, real time audio and interior design for Virtual Meetings studios, groups feel as if they are actually gathered together in the same room across a virtual table, even if they are thousands of miles apart. The secure and reliable system has around the clock, 365 days a year technical support. To book a meeting online, customers can visit www.VirtualMeetingsbyMarriott.com two days in advance.

"Marriott continues to lead the lodging industry in delivering the latest meeting technology to its customers," says Anthony Stewart-Moore, General Manager at Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel. "Virtual Meetings by Marriott will offer our customers a new way to hold more productive, collaborative meetings linking locations around the world."

In January of this year, Marriott was the first major global hotel company to offer telepresence technologies to its customers in locations worldwide. There are currently eight studios open (including Grosvenor House), and plans call for expansion to 25 hotels around the world in the first phase. Additional hotels currently offering Virtual Meetings studios which customers can connect to include:
• New York Marriott East Side
• Bethesda Marriott North Hotel (suburban Washington, DC)
• Renaissance Washington DC Downtown Hotel
• Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott,
• JW Marriott San Francisco
• JW Marriott Hong Kong
• JW Marriott Shanghai

Future studios are planned for the Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway, Renaissance Hotel Sao Paulo, JW Marriott Marquis Miami with more to follow.

"Marriott's corporate customers told the company they would hold more meetings at our hotels if an appealing virtual meeting option was available," said Dave Townshend, Senior Vice President, Market Accounts for Marriott International. "Virtual Meetings will give Marriott customers additional opportunities to hold more small meetings, typically of 20 or fewer people in multiple locations built around a whole new meeting experience."

Virtual Meetings by Marriott studios are able to connect to each other, as well as to public Cisco TelePresence Suites and other companies whose private telepresence suites are on the AT&T Business Exchange, AT&T's unique intercompany, multipoint, meet-me bridging capability. There are more than 1,100 existing endpoints worldwide connected to the AT&T Business Exchange across 100 companies and organizations around the globe.
To learn more about Virtual Meetings, please visit www.VirtualMeetingsbyMarriott.com .

*AT&T products and services are provided or offered by subsidiaries and affiliates of AT&T Inc. under the AT&T brand and not by AT&T Inc.

ENDS

Notes to Editors
See pictures of the Virtual Meetings studio at the Bethesda North Hotel (suburban Washington, DC).
To see Marriott's Virtual Meetings video, visit YouTube.

About Marriott

MARRIOTT INTERNATIONAL, INC. (NYSE:MAR) is a leading lodging company with more than 3,400 lodging properties in 70 countries and territories. Marriott International operates and franchises hotels under the Marriott, JW Marriott, The Ritz-Carlton, The Autograph Collection, Renaissance, Residence Inn, Courtyard, TownePlace Suites, Fairfield Inn, SpringHill Suites and Bulgari brand names; develops and operates vacation ownership resorts under the Marriott Vacation Club, The Ritz-Carlton Destination Club, and Grand Residences by Marriott brands; licenses and manages whole-ownership residential brands, including The Ritz-Carlton Residences, JW Marriott Residences and Marriott Residences; operates Marriott Executive Apartments; provides furnished corporate housing through its Marriott ExecuStay division; and operates conference centers. The company is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, USA, and had approximately 137,000 employees at 2009 year-end. It is recognized by FORTUNE® as one of the best companies to work for, and by Newsweek as one of the greenest big companies in America. In fiscal year 2009, Marriott International reported sales from continuing operations of nearly $11 billion. For more information or reservations, please visit our web site at www.marriott.com, and for the latest company news, visit www.marriottnewscenter.com.

Visit Marriott International, Inc. for company information.
For information about Grosvenor House, A JW Marriott Hotel please call +44 (0) 207 499 6363 or visit www.londongrosvenorhouse.co.uk.

Press Contact: Emma Jarman or Clare Gillespie
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