Executive Travel : New Room Service: Faxes and Extra Phones

The hotel industry, which a decade ago modeled its frequent-stay programs after airline frequent-flier programs, is once again taking a cue from the airlines by creating “business class” rooms.

Most of the major chains have either just announced new services and amenities designed to attract the business segment or have them in the works, a trend that industry analysts say signals a move away from central business centers, popular a few years ago, toward making hotel rooms more like home offices.

Needs Have Changed

“Back five or six years ago, there was a surge in creating business service centers in hotels,” said Gordon Lambourne, a spokesman for Marriott Corp. “But they found customers were not really using them.”

The hours often didn’t meet the needs of travelers who might be out on sales calls or in meetings all day and needed access to computers, printers and fax machines in the evening. And people out on business didn’t want to have to stay dressed in their work clothes to use copy machines or send a fax. They’d rather put on their bathrobes and do such tasks from their rooms, he said.

In addition, business travelers’ needs have changed. As communications technology has become more powerful and more portable, hotels find their commercial guests are bringing their computers with them--they don’t need to go outside the room to use someone else’s.

And whereas people used to ask for a secretary to type a letter, now they just fax it themselves, said Ken Hine, president of the American Hotel and Motel Assn. “They’re less concerned that things be properly presented than speedily presented,” he said. At the same time, many business travelers believe hotels don’t understand their needs. Indeed, Radisson Hotels International discovered in its market research that business travelers feel like “the lost-sheep class,” said Karen Waters, spokeswoman for Minneapolis-based Radisson.

They are often out of sync with hotel restaurant hours, they need to get work done when business centers are closed, and they want to unwind from the stresses of working on the road without paying an arm and a leg for a movie in their hotel room, she said. Above all, they hate being “nickel and dimed” for everything from local telephone calls to morning coffee.

And it’s hard to get work done if the only place they have to spread out is the bed or if there’s only one phone line.

New solutions to providing business services range from extra in-room phone jacks for convenient modem hookup to in-room computers.

Some solutions are as simple as adding second phones so guests don’t have to work on the bed. Others involve rigging up call-forwarding and voice mail systems.

Here’s a sampling:

Radisson has recently expanded the test marketing of its new business-class rooms. For a fixed rate, corporate guests get a modem hookup, no telephone access charges, complimentary in-room movies, daily newspaper and immediate fax delivery to the room. Coffee and breakfast are free.

Earlier this fall, Beverly Hills-based Hilton Hotels Corp. introduced “BusinesSavers,” a package that includes free local calls, free faxes (up to 10 pages per stay), one free movie per stay and unlimited free health club use. The service is available on request at more than 85% of Hilton locations.

ITT Sheraton is already putting built-in personal computers into some of its rooms. The computers, camouflaged in special desk consoles, come with printers and fax capabilities. The Boston-based company is negotiating for software licenses and has not announced a start date for the workstation rooms, said spokeswoman Lisa Dickason. By 1995, all rooms will also feature custom voice mail.

Maryland-based Marriott provides double phones and room hookups if guests bring their own computer and is studying the idea of in-room computers and fax machines. Chicago-based Hyatt will announce its program in January.

Smaller hotels are putting their own twists on these services. The Rihga Royal Hotel in New York, the only U.S. location of Japan-based Rihga-Royal International Hotel Group Assn., offers guests cellular phones and a fax machine with a private line. If guests are not in the room, calls are forwarded to their cellular phone. And guests receive personalized business cards with their fax and phone numbers for use during their stay.

Key Customers

The push to make hotel rooms a home office away from home reflects the importance of the business traveler to the hotel industry. While the most visible advertising dollars go toward attracting vacation travelers, business travelers are the industry staple.

“They’re terribly important to the industry,” said Hine, of the American Hotel and Motel Assn. “It goes back historically to the railroad days, when hotels catered mostly to the traveling man and peddlers.”

Indeed, according to statistics from the association, while business travelers and conference-goers may take between 40% and 45% of all rooms in a given year, they account for proportionately more dollars than do leisure travelers. What’s more, according to industry analysts, the business travel segment continues to grow at a faster pace than leisure travel.

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Note: Last week’s column about jet lag software included the fax number for Management Consulting International. The company’s phone number is (714) 675-9588.