Hotel chains including Mariott International and Starwood Hotels and Resorts have figured that if their rooms are going to go unfilled during the economic downturn, the empties can be put to another profitable use.

These and other hotel operators are setting up conference rooms with the latest in teleconferencing equipment so that companies don’t have to invest in the technology themselves, but can rent it by the hour.

Now, instead of flying workers across the country, a company will merely set up two or more convenient conferencing rooms and run the meeting virtually.

The benefits: No airfares, no hotel rooms, no restaurant meals, reduced time away from the office.

The going rate for these rooms runs about $500 an hour.

In many cases, hotel operators have partnered with tech companies like Dell and Cisco to equip the conference rooms.  So far, most rooms are located in major cities, but if travel budgets keep getting trimmed, the service could spread soon to smaller markets and more remote locations.