JW Marriott Hotel – First Hotel in Hong Kong to Open Public Telepresence Studio

The JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong celebrated the opening of its GoThere Virtual Meetings studio with a four-city telepresence event today along with AT&T and Cisco. The public telepresence facility at the JW Marriott is the first to open in Hong Kong and enables people to hold small, virtual meetings with customers and colleagues around the world. The JW Marriott San Francisco, that installed a studio earlier this year, connected live to the event together with Cisco Shanghai and AT&T Malaysia to congratulate the first Marriott Hotel in Asia to the network.

GoThere Virtual Meetings is part of a roll-out of AT&T Telepresence Solution -- using Cisco TelePresence™ studios enabled by the AT&T network and the AT&T Business Exchange -- at Marriott Hotels & Resorts, JW Marriott Hotels and Renaissance Hotels around the world. Hong Kong is the sixth telepresence studio to open in a Marriott branded hotel.

“Marriott continues to lead the lodging industry in delivering the latest meeting technology to its customers,” says Mark Conklin, General Manager of JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong. “GoThere Virtual Meetings will offer our clients a new way to hold more productive, collaborative meetings linking locations around the globe within seconds.”

"With the opening of GoThere Virtual Meetings with AT&T and Cisco, Marriott customers are able to easily collaborate 'in-person' with partners around the world. We look forward to working with Marriott to further expand intercompany connectivity and accelerate global innovation and collaboration," said Bernard Yee, vice president, AT&T Asia Pacific.

“This collaboration with industry leaders Marriott and AT&T in the deployment of Cisco TelePresence underscores our commitment to bringing leading technologies to Hong Kong’s lodging industry and to discerning business travellers. We are very pleased to be part of the team delivering innovative and differentiating premium services to the valuable guests of the hotel and making the vision of a global Cisco TelePresence network a reality,” said Barbara Chiu, general manager, Cisco Hong Kong and Macau.

The exclusive Cisco Telepresence Studio in JW Marriott Hotel Hong Kong, is located on the 30th floor of the hotel. The Studio offers a connecting Executive Boardroom which not only offers breathtaking views of Victoria Harbour, but is fully equipped with an LCD television. The self-contained suite is available for hire by the hour or in half day sessions.

Cisco Telepresence is a rapidly growing and increasingly popular 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 GoThere 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.

To learn more about GoThere Virtual Meetings, please visit www.marriott.com/gotherevirtualmeetings. To book a meeting room online, customers can go to https://www.gotherevirtualmeetings.com/.

Marriott is the first major global hotel company to offer Cisco TelePresence meeting options with AT&T to its customers in locations worldwide. Plans call for expansion to 25 hotels around the world in the first phase. Hotels to offer GoThere Virtual Meetings currently include the JW Marriott San Francisco Union Square; New York Marriott East Side; Bethesda North Marriott Hotel; Renaissance Washington, DC; and Dallas/Fort Worth Airport Marriott. Future studios are planned for JW Marriott Hotel Shanghai; Grosvenor House, a JW Marriott Hotel, London; Renaissance Sao Paulo; JW Marriott Hotel Chicago; JW Marriott Marquis/ Beaux Arts, Miami; and Atlanta Airport Marriott Gateway 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. “GoThere 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.”

GoThere Virtual Meetings studios will be able to connect to each other, as well as public Cisco TelePresence Suites and other companies on the AT&T Business Exchangesm, AT&T’s unique intercompany, multipoint, meet-me bridging capability. There are more than 1,000 existing endpoints worldwide connected to the AT&T Business Exchangesm.

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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 , and for the latest company news, visit .