Marriott Vacations Worldwide

Custom Curved LED Wall, Hurricane-Rated Structure & Directional Audio — Built for Florida's Outdoor Hospitality Environments

Client: Marriott Vacations Worldwide
Location: Orlando, FL
Industry: Hospitality
Scope: Video Wall
Completed: 2023

40% Bar Sales Increase

25% Guest Engagement

16x9 ft Curved LED Wall

Project overview

Turning a Resort Pool Deck into an Immersive Outdoor Entertainment Destination

Custom Curved LED Wall, Hurricane-Rated Structure & Directional Audio — Built for Florida's Outdoor Hospitality Environments

Marriott Vacations Worldwide set out to raise the guest experience at its resort pool area with a large-format visual centerpiece that could anchor poolside events, drive bar traffic, and create the memorable moments that define a high-end stay. The vision was ambitious: an outdoor LED video wall that could host poolside movies, live sports, daily water activities, and sound-reinforced programming, all without breaking the look of the resort's outdoor design.

Crunchy Tech was engaged to custom design, engineer, install, program, commission, and support the complete outdoor AV system. The project meant solving a demanding set of structural, acoustic, and weather-resilience challenges to deliver something as architecturally refined as it was technically capable.

Project challenges

Engineering for Curves, Climate, and a Luxury Guest Environment

The Marriott poolside project brought a distinctive mix of technical and environmental challenges, each one calling for custom engineering:

A curved, convex LED screen

anchored the installation and created immediate structural complexity. Hitting the exact radius in the architectural design took a fully custom trussing system engineered to hold the LED panels at precise curvature while meeting the hotel's structural and aesthetic specifications.

Florida's outdoor environment

put extreme demands on every component. From the LED wall to the mounting system, everything had to be rated for hurricane conditions and able to take high winds, sustained moisture, and the intense UV and heat of a Florida poolside.

The audio needed careful directional engineering.

The speakers had to put powerful, high-quality sound on the pool deck without spilling into adjacent guest areas where quieter, more private experiences were expected. A standard outdoor PA would not meet that requirement.

Operator usability was a priority.

Resort staff needed to run the full system, video sources, audio zones, and wireless inputs, from the pool deck itself, with their attention on guests instead of a back-of-house rack.

The whole installation had to fit the resort's existing architecture,

with no compromise to the visual environment Marriott's guests expect.

Understanding the client's needs

Dazzle Guests, Drive Bar Sales, and Preserve the Resort Aesthetic

Marriott Vacations Worldwide had three connected goals: pull guest attention around the pool, grow revenue at the pool deck bar, and build a platform for programming that gives guests a reason to linger. Digital signage alone would not get there. The client needed a real destination experience built around a striking display that could anchor everything from movie nights to live sports.

The design requirement mattered just as much. Marriott would not accept a large screen bolted to the pool area with no regard for its surroundings. The AV system had to feel intentional: architecturally integrated, aesthetically considered, and worthy of the Marriott brand standard.

Crunchy Tech opened the engagement by mapping the full range of programming the system needed to support, then engineering a solution that could handle all of it reliably in the demanding conditions of a Florida outdoor hospitality environment. Every decision, from the curvature of the LED wall to the speakers' directional pattern, weighed both performance and guest experience.

Technical solutions

One platform, integrated subsystems

Technology partner	Components	Role in project
LED Video Wall	IP65-rated 16ft x 9ft curved, convex LED screen, 4mm pixel pitch, 8.53M resolution	Large-format, weather-resistant visual centerpiece engineered to the precise curved radius required by the architectural design
LED Wall Processor	NovaStar HD LED wall processor	Controlled all display processing, content management, and image quality parameters for the large-format LED wall
Custom Structural System	Custom-engineered trussing system with purpose-built mounting brackets	Achieved the required convex LED radius while meeting hotel architectural standards and hurricane-rated structural requirements for Florida weather
Outdoor Audio System	4x high-fidelity, high-powered, directional, weatherized cabinet loudspeakers with custom-engineered mounting brackets	Focused, front-facing audio to the pool deck audience without overpowering adjacent guest areas or private pool zones
Amplification	Electrovoice amplifiers	Powered the cabinet speaker system with the headroom required for outdoor sound reinforcement across the full pool deck
Wireless Audio	2-channel wireless audio input system	Let operators reach the full pool deck with live announcements, DJ audio, or event programming
Control & Switching	Crestron media switcher and processing system, TSW-series touchpanel, wireless iPad with Crestron mobile application	Unified all system control into a single intuitive interface operable from the rack or anywhere on the pool deck via iPad

Implementation methodology

Custom Engineering, Coordinated Installation, and Full Commissioning

The Marriott poolside installation was executed through Crunchy Tech's integrated design-build methodology, which here required a significant custom-engineering phase before any equipment went in. The curved LED wall's convex geometry meant Crunchy Tech's team had to design and fabricate a bespoke trussing system that could hold the panels at the correct radius, carry the weight of the full display and speaker assembly, and meet hurricane-rated structural standards, all while staying architecturally unobtrusive.

Speaker placement and aiming were engineered in advance to hit the directional coverage pattern the hotel required. The four cabinet loudspeakers were positioned and angled to cover the primary pool deck zone while keeping sound in adjacent guest areas within the hotel's comfort specs. Custom brackets fabricated by the team allowed precise speaker positioning on the trussing.

The Crestron control system was programmed to give pool deck operators one interface for the whole system, source selection, volume, and wireless audio inputs, from either the rack-mounted TSW touchpanel or a wireless iPad running the Crestron mobile app. Full commissioning covered audio calibration, LED wall processing setup, and end-to-end testing across every planned use case before handover to the resort team.

Key Technology Partners

NovaStar: HD LED wall processor providing display control, processing, and image management for the large-format curved outdoor LED wall.
Electrovoice: Professional amplifiers powering the four-cabinet directional outdoor speaker system with the headroom required for pool deck sound reinforcement.
Crestron: Media switcher, TSW-series touchpanel, and mobile iPad application delivering unified, pool-deck-operable control of all AV system inputs, outputs, and audio zones.

Custom Curved LED, Directional Audio, and Mobile Pool-Deck Control

To deliver a weather-resilient outdoor entertainment system for Marriott's pool deck, Crunchy Tech built a purpose-engineered AV platform: a large-format curved LED wall, directional outdoor audio, custom structural engineering, and mobile Crestron control.

The structural engineering was as critical as the technology. Crunchy Tech's team designed a custom trussing system that supports the curved LED wall at the exact convex radius in the client's architectural brief, while meeting hurricane-rated wind-load specs for Florida outdoor structures. Custom brackets mount the four directional cabinet loudspeakers to that same trussing, so the audio and visual elements form one architecturally cohesive installation.

The IP65-rated LED wall, a 16ft x 9ft, 4mm pixel pitch curved display at 8.53-megapixel resolution, delivered the visual impact Marriott wanted while meeting the weatherproofing standard for permanent outdoor use. The NovaStar HD processor managed display processing and image quality, holding vivid, consistent output across Florida's full range of lighting, from direct sun to evening events.

Results & impact

A Revenue-Driving Outdoor Entertainment Destination

The finished installation gave Marriott's pool deck a fully programmed outdoor entertainment destination. The curved LED wall became an immediate focal point, a real reason for guests to gather at the pool for movies, sports, and daily programming. The directional audio put clear, powerful sound on the primary audience area while keeping adjacent guest spaces quiet, exactly as the hotel required.

The business impact was direct and measurable. Pool deck bar sales rose 40% after the installation, reflecting the added dwell time and engagement the new platform created. Poolside guest engagement climbed 25%, confirming the system was doing its core job: creating memorable, attraction-worthy experiences for resort guests.

> "The result was a large increase in bar sales by the pool and an easy-to-use system that kept design in mind. The build is also a hurricane-rated structure that can handle the onslaught of Florida weather all while the operator controls the system from the pool deck allowing their focus to be on the resort guest's experience." — Crunchy Tech, on the Marriott Vacations Worldwide engagement

Finishing the project

Where Custom Engineering Meets Guest Experience

The Marriott Vacations Worldwide project demonstrates Crunchy Tech's ability to deliver outdoor AV that goes well past standard installation work, combining custom structural engineering, purpose-built weatherized hardware, and intuitive control into one platform that serves both the guest experience and the hotel's revenue goals.

By solving the structural, acoustic, and environmental challenges of a curved outdoor LED installation in a Florida hospitality setting, Crunchy Tech delivered a system as architecturally considered as it is technically capable. The result is a permanent outdoor entertainment asset that drives measurable revenue, improves the guest experience, and is built to perform through Florida's toughest weather for years to come.

Have an outdoor space, a tough climate, and a revenue goal to hit? Let's talk about a weather-rated LED and audio system built for it.