Sheraton Hotels & Resorts has unveiled a new online experience for guests designed by Microsoft’s new decision engine, Bing, featuring intuitive tools that help guests seamlessly navigate their stay.

Designed as a social, interactive online global destination, the new “Sheraton Guest Portal powered by Bing” will be featured worldwide in the “Link@SheratonSM experienced with Microsoft” in addition to in-room web access.

As part of the brand’s $6 billion revitalization effort, Sheraton Hotels have redesigned nearly 400 lobbies worldwide with the addition of its innovative Link@Sheraton experience with Microsoft, a unique lobby lounge that enables today’s travelers access to information and technology for work, leisure and social networking. 

The new portal was specially designed to provide guests with an intuitive, tailored on-line experience specific to their destination – like having a personal concierge in the palm of your hand, it added.

The portal promotes a sense of discovery and captures the 'pulse' of the local destination, said a top official.

As part of the new online experience, guests will find constantly updated relevant content, specific to each Sheraton location, such as local maps and the top search results for area restaurants, attractions, special events and services.

The new portal uses a mix of rich imagery with a dashboard of dynamic tools that aggregates the top items requested from the concierge and makes them easy to find.

'With one click of the mouse guests can print a boarding pass, find the nearest entertainment and must see sites,  get the local weather forecast, read the top news stories of the day or discover more about their hotel, such as the restaurant hours and spa offerings.'

“Microsoft has been an integral partner during our revitalization of the Sheraton brand from the beginning with the launch of the Link@Sheraton powered by Microsoft,” said Hoyt Harper, senior vice president, Global Brand Management for Sheraton Hotel & Resorts.

“Utilizing the Bing technology we’ve created a portal that will provide our guests with a geographically relevant and unique online experience whether they’re in the lobby or their room.”

We’re thrilled to work with Starwood to bring the powerful decision making tools of Bing to Sheraton customers,” said Yusuf Mehdi, senior vice president, Online Services Division, Microsoft.

“When you are on the road for business or vacation and staying at a Sheraton hotel or resort, Bing will be a great asset for helping customers make important decisions on the go, including local search tools that help you decide where to eat, what to see, and an immersive mapping experience to help customers get around,” he added.-TradeArabia News Service