Club Floors Key In On Business Travel

<H1> Club Floors Key In On Business Travel</H1>By Linda Humphrey

Hotel club floors are undergoing an industrywide shift to provide services for business travelers, particularly those traveling across time zones.

Once the domain of the cocktail-party set, club floors are moving from elegance toward convenience because of mushrooming usage by business travelers, who are seeking more immediate concierge services and more accessible business services and meeting areas.

Long-haul travelers, coping with jet lag while squeezing more business into less time, increasingly are relying on the club concierge. Many business travelers are enlisting club-floor staff to choose appropriate restaurants and gifts for clients, confirm appointments and travel plans, and to serve as receptionists for informal meetings in the lounge.

Stepping up this trend, several Asian chains are set to launch 24-hour club-floor service, and ITT Sheraton has opted to add its three-month-old business-class rooms on club floors only.

Club floors are reeling in business travelers seeking "not a more expensive room with champagne and caviar but a concierge and business services," said John Norlander, president and CEO of Carlson Hospitality Worldwide.

Comfort And Productivity

The switch "has occurred rather dramatically in the last year," said Fred Kleisner, president and chief operating officer of Westin Hotels and Resorts. "The focus is not so much on cocktails as on receiving all the international newspapers and business news of the world, and on sending and receiving faxes on a highly efficient and reasonably priced basis."

Westin, in fact, abandoned its traditional Executive Club floors last fall in favor of its new business-class rooms, the Westin Guest Office. The chain then launched exclusive rooms for its Premier Gold members-the highest level of its frequent guest program, requiring 10 stays or 30 nights within a year-which feature extras such as a 6 p.m. checkout, mineral water and robes.

ITT Sheraton Corp. has launched its business-class rooms-which "balance guest comfort with the necessity for business services," said Frank Camacho, director of marketing and operations staff, North America division-on club floors in 13 properties, including New York, Boston, Montreal and Chicago-O'Hare. Nineteen more, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Miami and Philadelphia properties, are slated to premiere the rooms by year-end.

The Sheraton New York and Manhattan hotels began to transform 350 of their 400 luxury Towers rooms to club rooms a year and a half ago. "The demand for the Towers was not as much as for the business-class level of service," said managing director Paul O'Neil.

Carrying a $40 premium, Sheraton's corporate club rooms feature a two-part desk, rolling ergonomic chair, halogen lamp and fax/copier/printer in addition to such extras as free local calls and long-distance access, and a lounge stocked with complimentary breakfasts and evening hors d'oeuvres. The Towers level, which costs $65 extra, includes club services plus butlers, morning coffee delivery, free drinks and upgraded amenities like down comforters and Egyptian cotton sheets.

Less Costly Than Suites

In Asia, Regent Hotels International has designed its first club floors, aiming to take the concept a step further with around-the-clock staff and cooked-to-order food service. Ushered in last fall in Jakarta, the Regent Club premiered last month in Bangkok and is slated to launch in Kuala Lumpur by year-end, in Singapore by early next year and in other Regent hotels as they renovate.

Developed for the long-haul guest who stays about five nights, the Clubs handle requests ranging from late-night Oreo cookie cravings to trip planning, said H.E. "Duffy" Keys, vice president of marketing for Four Seasons Regent Worldwide.

Priced at a $40-to-$50 premium, the Club draws travelers who need to have "a base of business beyond their bedroom at a cost lower than a suite," Keys said, adding that many guests confer with clients in the Club lounge.

Surveying more than 2,000 frequent business travelers last year, the chain found that two-thirds rated club hospitality floors as important in choosing a hotel.

Beyond standard club services, the Regent Club offers unlimited clothes pressing on arrival and private limousine transfer to the guest's first business appointment.

The Shangri-La in Kuala Lumpur will unveil revamped Horizon floors next month, with 24-hour staff and bilevel lounge, said general manager Nigel Grocock. Two Philippine Shangri-Las also will add Horizon floors next year: The Mactan Island Resort in Cebu will add its first such floor, and the Edsa Plaza Hotel in Manila will add four to its existing one.

Three months of guest interviews and research have yielded a new approach to the club levels, Grocock said. "The majority of club floor guests are business travelers, and most are more Western-oriented," he said. "They don't want to be overpampered. They want to call if they need something rather than have someone always inquiring after them."

Executive Assistants?

Back in New York, however, many club-floor habitu&eacute;s call upon the concierge constantly, phoning in their requests-such as their hometown newspaper-days before arriving and dropping off lists of errands at breakfast, said Cara Macy Redmond, director of guest relations at the Grand Hyatt New York, which-like most Hyatt Hotels worldwide-offers Regency Club rooms for a $35 weekday premium.

Errand lists could include ordering gifts, translating resumes, repairing luggage, securing dinner and theater reservations, and even packing and delivering bags to the airport.

Alas, the club-floor life often is off-limits to travelers without presidential titles, as many corporations won't foot the premiums, said Gerard Smith, senior partner at the T&E Group in Newport Beach, Calif. "Most of our clients are not willing to pay the additional cost," Smith said, adding that many are shifting their travelers to economy properties.

Buyers often will negotiate space-available club-floor upgrades, however, Smith said-"and then when the presidents go into the club lounge, they'll see some of their employees and say, 'wait a minute, I thought I was the VIP.