NEW YORK — Zinio, a global provider of digital and interactive publishing products and services, today announced a global partnership with Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. to provide guests at its portfolio of specialty select hotels with access to a branded digital newsstand offering downloadable magazines. The hotel-branded digital newsstands will be powered by Zinio and will feature select single issues for guests to enjoy during their stay at all Element and Aloft properties and participating Four Points by Sheraton properties.
"We are excited to align ourselves with Starwood to enhance its current guest amenity offering with Zinio's digital-reading experience, driving mutual brand awareness and cultivating consumer adoption," said Rich Maggiotto, president and chief executive of Zinio. "Leveraging Zinio's desire to offer on-the-go readers their favorite magazines anytime and anywhere is a logical fit for Starwood's specialty select properties."
The digital newsstand, which will be accessible in Starwood's guest rooms and at lobby kiosks, will offer participating titles including: Caribbean Travel & Life, Destination Weddings & Honeymoons, Field & Stream, Golf Fitness Magazine, Kiteboarding, Macworld, mental_floss, Outside, Outside's GO, PC World, Saveur, Ski Magazine, Skiing, Spa Magazine, U.S. News & World Report, Wakeboarding and Working Mother. Also, Starwood will be the first hotel company to offer VIVmag, the first interactive digital women's luxury lifestyle magazine, conceived and designed exclusively to be read digitally. Additionally, the newsstand will offer a range of international titles from Argentina, China, France, Italy, Mexico, New Zealand, Spain, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.
"At all our specialty select properties, we aim to provide guests with unique experiences that help make life on the road convenient and easy," said Brian McGuinness, Senior Vice President of Starwood's Specialty Select Brands. "Partnering with Zinio enables us to extend another unique branded offering to our guests who want to keep current while traveling, without being burdened with heavy hard copies of magazines."
Guests will enjoy immediate access to the world's most popular digital publications, for free, with Starwood introducing the digital newsstands through on-property marketing and online marketing efforts.
The Element North American rollout will be in this month, followed immediately by the global rollouts at Aloft and Four Points by Sheraton. Within the first year, the expected audience reach for the Zinio partnership will range between three and five million impressions.
