Hotels, Airlines Enhancing Internet, Wireless Options

<B>Hotels, Airlines Enhancing Internet, Wireless Options</B>

By Bob Curley

High-speed Internet access in hotels soon may become ubiquitous, thanks to a new marketing strategy by the industry's leading technology providers. In the meantime, upscale hotels are moving toward providing wireless access for laptops, PDAs, phones and pagers, while the broader business travel industry continues to add to the capabilities available to the ever vaster market of wireless users.

Such companies as CAIS Internet are offering to wire hotels for high-speed access for no up-front cost in exchange for a cut of revenues--a business model that has caught the eye of midprice hotel chains in addition to luxury brands, which up until now have led the trend toward providing guests with the ability to surf the Web at better-than-modem speeds. In June, for example, Howard Johnson's franchisees announced a deal with CAIS to provide high-speed access. Ramada and Travelodge franchisees reached similar agreements in August.

A recent informal survey of major U.S. cities found that business travelers typically can choose from dozens of hotels that already have been wired for high-speed access. (To find a wired hotel in a specific destination city, check out the locator tools on the Web sites of the three major high-speed access providers: CAIS Internet at www.caisinternet.com, Wayport at www.wayport.com and STSN at www.stsn.com.) Most hotels seem to have settled on a price point of about $10 for the service, but Wyndham International recently began offering free access for members of its guest rewards program--an industry first.

With business travelers coming to view high-speed access more as a necessity than a luxury, upscale brands are turning their attention to wireless in order to set themselves apart from the crowd. All new Four Seasons properties, for example, not only are being wired for high-speed in-room Internet connectivity, but also for wireless access in all public spaces, according to spokeswoman Nicola Blazier. Wyndham has announced plans to provide both in-room and meeting room wireless in all 200 of its properties by year-end, and more than 50 Hiltons nationally are offering wireless connectivity.

Hotels also are giving guests more things to do with their wireless devices: Hilton, for example, plans to roll out hotel booking functionality for PDAs, phones and other Internet-ready devices within the next two months. Hotels also are looking at technology that would allow guests to use their PDAs to check in curbside rather than at the front desk, which especially would be valuable in attracting female travelers, who said in a recent Wyndham survey that fast checkin and checkout is the hotel amenity they value most. (In the same survey, 72 percent of women said they were interested in in-room, high-speed access.)

One technology trend that has been slower to get off the ground is equipping hotel rooms with PCs or laptop computers. The Hawthorn Suites chain in February announced plans to provide laptops in all of its North American properties, and New York's Trump Tower and Avalon Hotel are offering guests the use of a PC-equipped room--the latter for an extra $14.95 per day. But travel managers said many employees are reluctant to travel without their own laptops, an attitude confirmed by Bruce Rosenberg, Hilton's senior vice president of e-business. "We've tried computers in guest rooms, but it doesn't work," he said. "Business travelers carry their laptops everywhere."

Just as midprice hotels are moving to provide high-speed Internet access, second-tier airlines are beginning to make their presence known in the world of online reservations. According to an international survey conducted in August by the Internet travel consulting firm PhoCusWright, more than two-thirds of airlines, including Lauda, Mexicana and KLM, said they accept reservations online, and 20 percent of these airlines have enabled online booking on their Web sites within the past year. According to the survey, many of these carriers reported difficulty in getting customers to book online; poor marketing, such as lack of strategic relationships with online partners, was blamed.

Elsewhere overseas, however, Air France, Alitalia, British Airways and KLM announced a plan to create a cutting-edge Web portal for online travel sales. Similar to a project launched last year by four major U.S. airlines (Continental, Delta, Northwest and United), the 11-member European consortium is aimed at improving consumer choice and competing with such online travel agencies as Travelocity and Expedia.

In July, Northwest Airlines--following the lead of Alaska Airlines--became the first major carrier to offer online checkin for flights via its Web site (www.nwa.com). Using a home computer or laptop, customers can log on to the Northwest site up to 24 hours before their flight (but at least 90 minutes prior to departure) and check in using their name, confirmation number and credit card, as well as answering a series of security and baggage-related questions. Boarding passes are printed from the customer's computer and later verified by an airline ticket agent; passengers who need to check baggage wait in a special express line at the airport.

Alaska Airlines, which has been providing its online checkin system since late 1999, allows travelers to check their bags at self-service kiosks.

Currently in beta testing with a group of the airline's corporate clients in the Memphis, Tenn., area, the Northwest Web checkin service could be offered to the public as early as next year.

Like Northwest and other major carriers, Southwest Airlines is making its Web site more than a place to look up flight information, check frequent flyer miles and make reservations. In March, Southwest announced it is working on an online tool that will allow travel managers to keep track of all their company's online bookings.

Airlines also are broadening their horizons when it comes to wireless. Delta, Continental and United recently have released wireless products that offer access to arrival and departure times, information on delays and locations of ticket offices to users of PDAs and WAP (wireless application protocol)-friendly phones and pagers. Scandinavian Airline Service is going a step further, testing a wireless res system with a group of its Travel Pass corporate clients.

Sabre BTS and Galileo already are proving the viability of wireless reservations. Galileo in June rolled out its wireless reservations system for users of the company's Apollo GDS. The system allows users of WAP phones and Web-enabled PDAs to cancel or rebook existing flights and check itineraries; Galileo Wireless does not allow travelers to make initial reservations, however. Planned enhancements include being able to select seats, and upgrade and rebook hotels and car reservations.

Sabre BTS also officially has launched its wireless booking service, which allows users to make initial reservations as well as changes.

Similar capabilities are provided by Biztravel.com, which launched its wireless booking service this summer, while GetThere Inc. unveiled its own wireless rebooking system in May.

Meanwhile, for perhaps the most comprehensive source of flight information online, business travelers now can turn to the OAG Web site (www.oag.com), which includes a database with information from more than 800 airlines worldwide. OAG recently began offering Web and wireless access to its database of direct and connecting flight schedules, as well as an e-mail and paging notification service for determining the status of a given flight.