i am sure part of the hold-up is verifying that good names haven't already been selected (and trademarked/copyrighted) by other companies.

and, is EVERYONE at starwood a guru? ;)

They just installed a kiosk in the club lounge at the Sheraton New York. The name is "Sheraton Speed Check". I tried to use it on Monday, but apparently your credit card and reservation must match identically (I'm not sure what it matches on), so mine didn't work. A co-worker got it to work by punching in his confirmation number. You get points for using it (don't remember the amount, or if it's one-time only).

I can't speak to the ability of the kiosk to present room upgrade options; next week I'll bring my confirmation number and see how it goes.

Kiosk already at Sheraton Boston
 

They've had a kiosk for a while at the Sheraton Boston although I don't recall what it is called.

Sheraton Hotels Rolling out New Check-in Kiosks Allowing Guests to Check-in Quickly
 

http://biz.yahoo.com/bw/040407/75386_1.html

Press Release Source: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Sheraton Hotels Rolling out New Check-in Kiosks Allowing Guests to Check-in under a Minute
Wednesday April 7, 10:28 am ET
Sheraton Speed Check Kiosks Coming to Sheraton Hotels Nationwide

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--April 7, 2004--Want to reach your hotel room in record time? Now, with a simple swipe of a credit card, guests can bypass the front desk and check-in or out in less than 60 seconds with new Sheraton Speed Check self-service kiosks. Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc's. (NYSE:HOT - News) upscale brand, is rolling out new self-service kiosks brand wide. Sheraton Speed Check is the most flexible kiosk of its kind, offering guests' the ability to receive messages, additional room keys and upgrades, change room type, and view, print and email personal folios, in addition to check-in and check-out.

Starwood recently tested and refined kiosks at two hotels and is launching its new and improved kiosk in its largest brand, Sheraton. Sheraton Speed Check makes its debut today at the brand's flagship, the newly renovated Sheraton New York Hotel & Towers in midtown Manhattan, and will roll out over the next several months to more than two dozen U.S. properties and ultimately nationwide.

No Lines, No Hassle, No Wait - You're in Control With Sheraton Speed Check

Sheraton Speed Check goes well beyond other self-service check-in kiosks. A guest needs additional room keys? No problem; they can now easily get duplicate keys from the kiosk. Expecting a message upon arrival? No need to go to the front desk - Sheraton Speed Check will print out all waiting messages on the check-in receipt. In addition, guests can also change their room type and view, print and email their personal guest folios any time during their stay.

"The new kiosks are designed to give our guests' greater freedom in expediting their arrival/departure process," said Norman MacLeod, executive vice president of Sheraton Hotels & Resorts. "Slow check-in has traditionally been a major guest concern, and our new kiosks help to alleviate that concern by offering the best functionality in the industry and providing our guests with a myriad of additional choices designed to improve their check-in/check-out process. It's part of our aspiration to provide the best arrival and departure experience, and part of that is to have better self-service than everyone in the industry."

Last year, Starwood test-piloted kiosks at the W New York - Times Square and the Sheraton Boston Hotel and received extremely positive feedback from guests. During the test pilot, Starwood made many refinements to the kiosks based on guest input, including message retrieval and room choice functions, and subsequently believes its kiosk to be the best in the business and ready for deployment throughout its largest brand.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. is one of the leading hotel and leisure companies in the world with more than 740 properties in more than 80 countries and 110,000 employees at its owned and managed properties. With internationally renowned brands, Starwood is a fully integrated owner, operator and franchiser of hotels and resorts including: St. Regis, The Luxury Collection, Sheraton, Westin, Four Points by Sheraton, W brands, as well as Starwood Vacation Ownership, Inc., one of the premier developers and operators of high quality vacation interval ownership resorts. For more information, please visit www.starwood.com.


** Please contact Starwood's new, toll-free media hotline at (866)
4-STAR-PR (866-478-2777) for photography or additional information.**

-0-

JOURNALISTS - PLEASE NOTE: JOIN STARWOOD'S
PRESS RELEASE ALERT SERVICE TO RECEIVE STARWOOD
COMPANY NEWS AND INFORMATION
To become a member, simply access the Starwood website, at:
www.starwood.com/press
Once you reach the home page, enter your e-mail address, and
click "Subscribe".


MULTIMEDIA AVAILABLE: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=4610846
Contact:

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.
Mark Ricci, 914-640-8496
E-mail: [email protected]


Source: Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc.

Well, assuming this article is correct as to the new name, my quick review of this thread shows that at least 2 FlyerTalkers - gleff and pccs - will share in the prize.

Along with who knows how many Sheraton employees! This isn't that unusual of a name, many are bound to have come up with it!

While I still make no warranties with respect to quality, I guess at least one of them couldn't have been too bad!

I'm curious to hear back on this one! :cool:

Close..but no cigar.
 

Well I was close anyway. One of the suggestions that I emailed William was
Speed Checkin. Guess the "in" lost it for me.

bj-21.

I hope that we will receive some good news from William soon... :cool:

Two of my suggestions were "Sheraton Speedy Check Kiosk" and "Sheraton Speed Kiosk".

Hey maybe they'll consider these as close enough for a consolation prize, like say a week at Bora Bora, or then again maybe at the 4pts Norwood... :D :D ;)

Dave the Kiosk would have been reasonable.

I had jibed Lurker that it should be "William the Freddie Award Winning Checkin Kiosk" or something like that.

But I'd sure love to hear from Backup Lurker about the official results of the contest! (Not the least of which because Starwood seems to have selected a name that I nominated!)

The kiosk name is...........................

Sheraton Speed Check

gleff is indeed the grand prize winner!

Now, for the ones of you saying to yourselves, "I suggested 'Sheraton Speed Check' why didn't I win?

The answer is, gleff beat you to it. gleff suggested "Sheraton Speed Check" first, so gleff gets the grand prize. Congratulations gleff!.... and thank you for sharing your kiosk naming skill.

For the four people with similar kiosk naming skill, but poor timing......you will not leave empty handed. 2,000 Starpoints will be awarded for each of you.

Thank you all for your participation. If we need to name anything else, we will keep you all in mind.

Regards,

Dave "the back-up Lurker"
Starwood Preferred Guest

Thank you Dave, and thank you Starwood! :-:

Now off to go use one of these machines ... ! @:-)

Dave, Thanks for the information. So what did the grand prize wind up being? Or even better, Gleff - tell us about your win....When did you find out? Tell us what the prize is so that we can all have point envy. :D

Congrats gleff!! :D I could be mistaken but I believe gleff won a week at any *wood. I could be wrong.