Marriott To Upgrade Onsite Hotel Technology

Marriott International this week announced an agreement with AT&T Inc. to provide converged networks for voice and data transmission for its properties.

Following the prototype at Marriott's recently opened Renaissance Boston Waterfront Hotel, the service merges multiple technology applications at properties—including guest wired and wireless Internet access, such communications services as video on demand and voice-over-Internet telephony, and staff communications tools—onto a single managed LAN service-provider model. For guests, that means more reliable Internet access and a better ability for the staff to respond to requests, according to Marriott.

"As demand for bandwidth increases and new communications and entertainment technologies emerge, Marriott will be uniquely positioned to meet the demands of its customers thanks to its alliance with AT&T," Page Petry, Marriott's senior vice president for information resources global field services in North American lodging, said in a statement.

Marriott said more hotels would be opened with the converged network set-up in the near future. In addition, the company said it is working on a method of fitting existing properties with the network as they undergo renovations.