News

Hotel chain testing self-check in

October 20, 2003

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. -- Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. is testing self-service kiosk applications at the 1,215-room Sheraton Boston Hotel and the 509-room W New York in Times Square.

According to a news release, kiosks will be located in each of the hotels' lobbies. The kiosks will allow guests to check-in and out of the hotel by simply swiping their credit cards, eliminating the need to go to the front desk. Check-in takes less than 45 seconds compared with several minutes using the traditional front desk check-in method.

Starwood plans to deploy these kiosks to a number of its downtown, convention and airport hotels next year following the conclusion of the current pilot test in two of its busiest hotels. The kiosks deployed at both the Sheraton Boston and the W New York, Times Square are made possible through the use of Galaxy's next generation Lightspeed property management system.

"Data from our two pilots is positive," said Carl Cohen, vice president, property technology business and systems strategy for Starwood. "It suggests that for those guests with an affinity for technology, this product improves the experience during arrival and check-in, and significantly expedites the check-out process."

A receipt informs the guest of his/her room rate and room number. The receipt also has space for customized messaging through StarGuest, Starwood's proprietary customer relationship management application suite.

Upon check-out, the guest swipes his or her credit card, the kiosk pulls up the guest folio, the guest confirms that all the information on the folio is accurate, the kiosk prints out the guest folio and the guest has the option to have the folio e-mailed to him/her in read-only format, the release said.