Cos. Weaving Hospitality Web

<B> Cos. Weaving Hospitality Web</B>

By Cheryl Rosen

If travelers could access the Internet and some basic software in their airplane seat and their hotel room, would they still need to lug a laptop on the road? Two technology companies are betting they won't, and are rolling out ever more ambitious plans to bring computers to the traveler.

Baltimore-based GuesTech L.L.C. has been testing its in-room SuiteLink PC concept in 800 rooms at four Choice hotels (<I>BTN</I>, Sept. 6)--and finding that 55 percent of all guests log on to the service. The average user logs on 1.5 times a day for 45 minutes at a time, for a total of 67 minutes a day. "That's a staggering usage rate," said chairman and CEO Craig Ziegler.

Indeed, it's caught the attention of many observers. Six more properties have signed up for the GuesTech service, and Ziegler expects to add another 15 to 20 before 1999 is over. Equally important, the company "is being courted by many would-be investors" who recognize the potential one-to-one marketing opportunities offered by a nationwide computer system with "recognizable hardware, software and browser."

GuesTech "absolutely" will go public in 2000, Ziegler said. "We're very excited about Web-enabling the hospitality industry."

But he also maintained that GuesTech's focus is on the customer--on "giving the end users what they want, how they want it and where they want it. The most important thing is to make sure our guests come back." So, taking a lesson from the travel industry, Ziegler said the company "probably" will institute a loyalty program that "recognizes and rewards our customers for being repeat guests through frequent flyer points."

Meanwhile, PCRoomLink, another in-room computer supplier, has an equally ambitious plan. Now in four properties, with 10 more in the pipeline, it hopes to move into 50 U.S. and 10 international gateway cities in 2000 "in the real near term," said president Jim Rossi.

PCRoomLink is getting its house in order following its merger with ThermalTech International, which has given it a Wall Street address without the need for an IPO. Now known as Camanco Communications, the company will focus exclusively on the in-room computer business, Rossi said.

Well, perhaps not "in-room" alone, as PCRoomLink eyes another milieu for the future. "In the next couple of years, the computer will be more important than the television and the telephone combined," Rossi said. "Our long-term plan is to put computers in the back of airline seats.