StarwoodHotels.com Offers Five-Star Customer Experience with TeaLeaf RealiTea
SAN FRANCISCO, CA, September 26, 2005. TeaLeaf, a leading provider of solutions that offer powerful visibility into the online customer experience, today announced that Starwood Hotels, one of the world's largest hotel and leisure companies, is using TeaLeaf RealiTea to improve Web site usability and reduce support costs for its luxury hotel destination site, StarwoodHotels.com.
StarwoodHotels.com is the online home of Starwood's award-winning Hotel brands, including Sheraton, Westin, and W. Consumers can research rates, book rooms, manage loyalty programs, and redeem loyalty points through StarwoodHotels.com, which processes over 10,000 bookings per day during peak booking months. TeaLeaf RealiTea gives Starwood's Web team real-time, browser-level visibility into every visitor's experience on the site, enabling them to quickly uncover and eliminate any issues that may lower conversion rates or satisfaction levels.
"Prior to deployment of TeaLeaf RealiTea, we had limited visibility into the unique and varied ways our guests interacted with our site," said Keith Kelly, vice president of web technologies at Starwood. "Of course, we've deployed an array of monitoring tools and systems to measure performance and availability, but these solutions did not provide us the intimate details into the actual guest experience that we desired. By using TeaLeaf to look at every guest's interaction with our site, we gain invaluable knowledge and insight that helps us to increase our conversion rates and develop a more usable site."
TeaLeaf RealiTea passively captures what StarwoodHotels.com visitors do and see in real-time. Starwood's Web development and support teams use this session information to detect, analyze, and respond to issues customers may be encountering, such as business process failures, errors, and other problems that could negatively impact the guest's ability to transact. Starwood's development group also uses TeaLeaf RealiTea when evaluating new enhancements, incorporating actual user experience into the process of considering and approving new functionality.
"In essence, a consumer's travel experience begins at the browser," said Geoff Galat, vice president of marketing & product strategy for TeaLeaf. "Travel industry leaders such as Starwood understand that inspecting, understanding, and acting on what happens to the customer in their browser enables them to see their website through the eyes of their customers, which is critical to improving top-line revenue."
Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ: MAR) is a global leading lodging company based in Bethesda,Maryland, USA, with more than 4,200 properties in 80 countries and territories. Marriott International reported revenues of nearly $14 billion in fiscal year 2014. The company operates and franchises hotels and licenses vacation ownership resorts under 19 brands, including: The Ritz-Carlton®, BVlgari®, EDITION®, JW Marriott®, Autograph Collection® Hotels, Renaissance® Hotels, Marriott Hotels®, Delta Hotels and Resorts®, Marriott Executive Apartments®, Marriott Vacation Club®, Gaylord Hotels®, AC Hotels by Marriott®, Courtyard®, Residence Inn®, SpringHill Suites®, Fairfield Inn & Suites®, TownePlace Suites®, Protea Hotels® and MoxyHotels®. Marriott has been consistently recognized as a top employer and for its superior business ethics. The company also manages the award-winning guest loyalty program, Marriott Rewards® and The Ritz-Carlton Rewards® program, which together surpass 50 million members. For more information or reservations, please visit our website at 
