Hilton Rethinks Videoconferencing Strategy
<B> Hilton Rethinks Videoconferencing Strategy</B>
By Chris Davis
Hilton Hotels Corp. is reevaluating its relationship with TeleSuite Corp., whose life-size videoconferencing network is installed in seven Hilton properties (<I>Meetings Today,</I> June 22, 1998).
Hilton also is considering whether to expand its 10-hotel network of standard videoconferencing capabilities, but has no immediate plans to do so, said Madonna Cavagnaro, vice president of telecommunications.
Englewood, Ohio-based TeleSuite uses patented technology to create life-size videoconferences designed to make conference participants in different locations feel as though they are sitting at one large table (<I>BTN,</I> Aug. 3, 1998). While Cavagnaro praised the TeleSuite concept and said guests usually prefer the system to standard videoconferencing once they use it, she admitted it is a challenge getting guests to try it the first time.
TeleSuite spokesman Scott Allen professed no knowledge of any change in the company's relationship with Hilton, but said it is focusing more on corporate locations anyway. While allowing potential corporate customers to see the TeleSuite concept in action, the conference rooms inside Hilton properties, which TeleSuite owns, "don't generate the traffic necessary to pay for themselves, and it comes out of our marketing budget," he said.
In the direct corporate end of the market, TeleSuite recently has installed its equipment in the offices of Unicare Life & Health Insurance in Thousand Oaks, Calif., and NEC Corp. in Littleton, Mass.
"We recognize that the business traveler needs to be attended to, but our bread and butter is deploying our equipment at private corporate locations to communicate with their regional offices for meetings," Allen said.
Last summer, Hilton said it would at least double the number of locations with TeleSuites and/or standard videoconferencing by this time. Cavagnaro, however, sought to dispel any notion that Hilton no longer sees videoconferencing as a natural fit. "Our guests appreciate that they have access to more than 300 sites, since it's connected to a much larger network," she said.