Starwood Hotels & Resorts Select FaceTime Telepresence to Improve Customer Service

By Anil Sharma, TMCnet Contributor

Starwood Hotels & Resorts’ has selected FaceTime, Apple's video calling feature on iPhone (News - Alert) 4, the new iPod touch and Macs, to provide better service to its customers.

Thanks to this, Starwood Preferred Guest members will now be able to connect with the company's customer service agents using FaceTime (News - Alert).

The service is simple to use as SPG members who want to launch a video call simply call 1-866-500-0369 from their iPhone 4, new iPod touch or Mac.

A SPG customer service representative will be ready to answer any customer service inquiry, such as making or changing reservations, booking award stays, checking account balances, or providing more information about Starwood’s 1000 hotels and resorts across the globe.

“Starwood Hotels is proud to offer face-to-face video calling for SPG members with FaceTime,” said David Godsman, vice president of Global Web Services, in a statement.

Godsman said that Apple's (News - Alert) innovative technology allows the company to provide a meaningful, personalized experience that will resonate with the company’s most loyal customers.

“We find customers enjoy seeing the person behind the voice,” said Mike English, vice president of Customer Contact Centers.

English said that FaceTime is a great way for representatives of the over 1,000 hotels in the Starwood family to interact with guests in a very personal way.

TMCnet in February 2010 reported that Starwood Hotels and Resorts Worldwide unveiled its first in-hotel Cisco TelePresence meeting suites with a virtual, interactive meeting spanning across two continents.

According to Starwood Hotels’ officials, the W Chicago City Center and Sheraton on the Park Sydney are the first in Starwood’s global portfolio to introduce the new meeting facilities, showcasing the state-of-the-artCisco TelePresence technology.

Cisco (News - Alert) TelePresence provides life-like, high definition, conferencing facilities with audio, video and environmental qualities allowing participants to meet their colleagues, customers and business partners across a virtual table.

(source: http://telepresence.tmcnet.com/topics/telepresence/articles/133583-starwood-hotels-resorts-select-facetime-telepresence-improve-customer.htm)