Marriott International has formed an exclusive relationship between its European Convention Network and London-based technology start-up, GoInStore. Through this arrangement, meeting planners will have access to virtual live tours of meetings and events facilities of the ECN’s collection of 14 gold standard convention hotels in Europe. The partnership is exclusive to hotels in the ECN, and will be trialled for a six-month pilot period.
In line with the ECN’s aim to provide an efficient, cost-effective and comprehensive service, the innovative new service integrates the latest technology with human touch to provide previews of function spaces to enhance the booking process for meeting planners. Event managers will be on-hand to use GoInStore’s real-time mobile technology to conduct personalized and interactive virtual tours using a live one-way video stream and two-way audio channel. Ensuring a streamlined process, the technology also allows real-time access to multiple sites in the same session.
“We’re really pleased with the progress we have made with the European Convention Network since its launch earlier this year,” said Pauline Bronkhorst, head of the ECN. “Many of our customers plan large annual or bi-annual events in different cities, and are unable to carry-out site visits in person – our virtual tours offer the perfect solution and planners can continue to enjoy personalized interaction combined with the benefits of state of the art technology to make well-informed decisions on their venue choices.”
Launched in February 2016, Marriott International’s ECN allows regular meeting planners to engage with one dedicated contact person to organize meetings and events at 14 hand-selected European properties across brands including JW Marriott, Renaissance Hotels, Marriott Hotels, AC Hotels and Autograph Collection Hotels. It provides a personal approach to bookings, offering advice and options to speed up and simplify the booking process. Following each event, the ECN conducts a critical review that summarizes key learnings, aiming to enhance the process for the next event and acting as a conduit between the meeting planners, event managers and the general managers at the hotel.