Higher End Hotels Make Room For Biz

<B>Higher End Hotels Make Room For Biz</B>

By Bruce Serlen

Upscale and luxury hotel chains are beginning to adapt their room product to accommodate business travelers who increasingly are using their hotel rooms as surrogate offices.

Last month, Ritz-Carlton Hotel Co., for example, introduced a prototype room dominated by a round sweeping work desk, while work desks on wheels are included in a new Hyatt Hotel under construction in the greater New York City market, enablingbusiness travelers to create their own work environment.

Similarly, when Sheraton Hotels debuted its new room prototype in April, the ever-present armoire had been removed to allow greater visibility in anticipation of the television it had once enclosed being used to access the Internet.

While many hotel chains in the midprice and extended-stay categories already made this transition from the traditional guest room to the guest-room-as-makeshift-office, the chains involved in this latest round of overhauls are in the upscale or even deluxe categories. What this means is that the change is being driven by the most senior-level business traveler.

At the midprice level, meanwhile, Courtyard by Marriott also is assessing its room product in an effort to keep an edge on the guest-room-as-office. Industrywide, business-oriented amenities in the guest room that were once considered innovative, such as two-line telephones and dataports positioned at desk height, now are more likely to be standard.

"We're seeing a true blending of travelers' work and living. It's what everyone is doing in their home, so it stands to reason it would be reflected in the hotel room as well," said John Nicolls, senior vice president for architecture and design for Hyatt.

The trend reaches beyond business hotels to include resort properties. "Travelers are working more in their rooms while on leisure trips as well as when they're strictly on business," said Richard Martini, senior vice president of design and construction for Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, which includes Sheraton. "Even if it's just to check e-mail while they're on vacation, the room design has to accommodate this other use today."

The Ritz-Carlton room prototype, which will be implemented in the United States and worldwide, is in the chain's new property in Wolfburg, Germany, near Hanover. It is part of the futuristic Autostadt development created by Volkswagen that includes the automaker's headquarters and a sprawling manufacturing plant that employs 50,000 people.

"Ritz-Carltons have the reputation for being classic designs, so the sleek, minimalist approach here is a big departure," said Walter Junger, general manager.

"The large round desk is positioned in a way to make it possible for the guest to access all parts of the room. The impression is that this is a room where the guest can be productive," he said.

Flexibility is key in the way the flow of space is designed, Junger said. "Three telephones--one wireless--are standard in each room, as is a remote control that accesses the Internet on the oversize flat-screen TV."

For security, rooms come with an oversize safe that can accommodate two laptops. The safes also include an electrical source so that the laptops can be recharged.

Hyatt is seeing the 350-room Hyatt Regency South Pier that began construction in May in Jersey City, N.J., across from the downtown Manhattan financial district, as its prototype for the future. "The desk can be wheeled five or six feet at the traveler's discretion either to be perpendicular to the wall or straight against it," Nicolls said. "The flexibility allows travelers to customize the room to some degree to suit their individual tastes. What's more, it will allow them to take advantage of the views and natural light, seeing that this particular building projects 800 feet into the Hudson River." Desk chairs are ergonomic, adjustable and have arms for added comfort.

At Sheraton, banishing the armoire means the television can swivel for better viewing anywhere in the room. "Once the TV becomes the means widely used for accessing the Internet, it becomes a business tool like the laptop," Martini said. Oversize desks in the new Sheraton room measure 6 feet long by 28 inches deep. "They're large enough that you can have your laptop, paper files and reports spread out and it not appear cluttered."

Through June, the new design was in place in more than 10,000 rooms worldwide. The renovation is expected to cost $350 million chainwide and to take two years to complete.

At the same time hotel chains were adding business-friendly touches, however, they were cognizant that the room design still had to provide the luxury and comfort the traveler expected, whether on business or leisure. "Because so many business travelers spend so much time on the road, they told us they were looking for hotels to have the same quality furnishings they would have in their own homes," Martini said. "For Sheraton, that meant upgrading to touches such as real wood finishes and velvet drapes."

Much of this focused on the bed and the bathroom. "In this regard, the sleigh beds, pillow-top mattresses and pinstripe sheets we introduced also were a major step up," he said. "Business travelers, in particular, told us they were traveling under increasing amounts of stress and, therefore, valued a good night's sleep more than ever."

The same applied to the bathroom. "With an oversize bathtub, heated marble floors and mood lighting, we wanted guests to feel they were pampered," Junger said.

At Courtyard by Marriott, a new lobby prototype introduced in May served as a precursor of changes coming to the guest room in early 2001.

"The new lobby provides more business amenities, such as individual work stations, power outlets, high speed dataports and ergonomic chairs," said Craig Lambert, senior vice president for select service lodging.

But the pressure is still on the guest room to double as surrogate office. "Some travelers tell us they still want to work in their room, preferring the privacy and lack of distraction, while others opt to work in the lobby," he said.

As Courtyard develops the new room prototype, Lambert cited surveys that showed business travelers felt they needed to be on call 24 hours a day. "They felt they needed to be available to their companies to this extent, but on their terms, not the hotel's," he said. "Consequently, connectivity in the guest room remains crucial."

But the room also remains a kind of oasis. "Travelers told us they needed to reenergize themselves for the day to come, so a restful environment where they could relax was a priority as well."

To bring fresh thinking to the room prototype, Courtyard chose to work with a design team that hadn't previously been involved in hotel projects. "Rather, the designers are specialists in multifunctional spaces, which should generate some creative new ideas," Lambert said. The Courtyard in Fair Oaks, Va., housed the prototype for the new lobby and is likely to house the guest room prototype as well.