Hotels Export Biz-Class Rooms
<H1> Hotels Export Biz-Class Rooms</H1>By Linda Humphrey
Travelers hooked on business-class rooms in the States are clamoring for in-room office gear overseas, prompting hotel chains to take the concept global. Chances are that business rooms will be even more successful abroad because international travelers often must connect with their home bases after hours.
That's why chains such as Marriott, Radisson, Swissôtel and Westin are setting up business-class rooms in Europe and Asia this year. Clarion and Hilton, which will equip their North American rooms with business class by year-end, plan to launch their overseas versions next year.
Business class-which typically features enhanced work spaces and phone lines, breakfast and other amenities for a premium of about $15 to $20-will appeal even more to international travelers, who tend to stay longer, work off-hours and need a link to their home office, noted Gerard Smith, senior partner in the T&E Group, Newport Beach, Calif.
"Travelers to Asia are demanding business-class rooms and asking why they're not available," said Marc Pujalet, senior vice president, sales and marketing for Westin, which has set up its Guest Office in Tokyo, Manila, Seoul and Singapore, and plans to equip all its Asian hotels by year-end. "We believe that these rooms will be even more successful in Asia than in the U.S."
"I was in Singapore last spring, and a room like that would have been a real blessing for me," said Bob Brunner, manager of corporate travel for Philips Electronics Corp. "I was running back and forth to the front desk for faxes all the time."
Brunner, who has a global hotel deal in place with Marriott, as well as other major chains, has seen his travelers respond well to the business-class room offerings in North America, and welcomes the prospect of booking them overseas.
Dialing into the office across time zones, international travelers often "find themselves working solo," said Pujalet. "They're painfully aware of how far away from home they are, of how alone they are, with no assistant to handle things." Beyond the time-zone hurdle, scores of hotels in Asia's developing countries lack sophisticated telecommunications links, Pujalet said.
Americans checking into U.S. brands abroad also expect consistency, said Roy Murray, vice president, international, for Choice hotels, which kicked off the Clarion Class Business Rooms this year and plans to equip its overseas hotels next year. "We're going to make it mandatory that as new policies and procedures are introduced domestically, they have to be brought on line internationally."
Business rooms first took shape here because the United States is "the best testing ground," said Janis Cannon, vice president of sales and marketing-North America for Swiss-owned Swissôtels, which equipped its overseas properties with the Swiss Business Advantage rooms last month. "The United States is where most of the technological revolutions happen. It's a more homogeneous market, connected with one type of telecommunications, one currency, one legal system."
The business-class trend also spotlights the hotel industry's quest to mirror the airlines, Cannon said. "Our properties are following the airline model of offering an economy, business-class and first-class room."
The business-class setup also transfers across cultures and to all tiers of hotels. "A hotel doesn't have to be four stars to offer a business-class level of service," said Tom Griffiths, senior director of product development for Radisson, which became the first U.S. chain to take business class abroad a year ago and now offers the rooms in 29 countries.
Beyond the standard amenities, the chain has added extras in each country, Griffiths said. While the North American hotels include an in-room movie with the package, the European hotels provide same-day pressing, and the Asian-Pacific properties offer a free companion dinner.
Marriott, which launched its Room that Works in Bermuda, Frankfurt, Hong Kong and London about six months ago, plans to add business class to every city-center property by the end of next year.