Hotels Outsource Express Business Center Services
<B> Hotels Outsource Express Business Center Services</B>
By David Jonas
Several hotel chains are exploring the feasibility of unattended business centers--scaled down facilities accessible 24 hours a day with a simple swipe of a credit card.
While large conference hotels offer business centers for guests, limitations of space and staff have made it impossible for many midsized locations to provide more than a few business services and amenities. Still, the need for productivity tools is higher than ever. The new business express centers offer guests full services, from personal computers with Internet access to laser printers, fax machines and photocopiers.
"While there are about 2000 luxury hotels or business class hotels in the United States, there are 20,000 midmarket hotels where business express centers are ideal," said Mark Holzberg, CEO and president of AlphaNet Hospitality Systems of Ramsey, N.J. "They want to provide business products for their guests, but do not have the funds for full-blown business centers."
AlphaNet's business express product, called simply The Office, is an unattended, self-service center that provides business amenities and PCs equipped with Microsoft applications and e-mail and Internet capabilities. Hotel guests use their credit cards to enter and operate the machines. Computer time costs 38 cents per minute, Internet browsing runs 26 cents per minute and laser printing is 79 cents per page.
Guests can quickly find the information they need in The Office thanks to a customized PC interface. "Financial news, sports, weather, destination information, e-mail and the Internet are accessible with just one click," said AlphaNet spokesman D.J. Vallauri.
The Office is already in place at several locations, including the Hyatt Regency Orlando and the Hilton Hotel at Washington National Airport, and a contract with Bristol Hotels will place The Office in all properties chainwide. Twenty-five additional sites are preparing for rollout, and the company expects to have 300 locations up and running by year end.
Feedback from guests at the Hyatt Orlando is positive, and usage is high, said Dave Valenti, rooms executive at the property. Inexperienced guests, who at first often do not understand why the hotel offers an unstaffed center, are slowly becoming acclimated to the concept. "An unattended facility is certainly better than no facility," he said.
From the property's perspective, Vallauri noted, "The product is attractive because they don't need to pay anything. We cover the costs to place the facility and then share revenues to ensure the most comprehensive and cost-efficient business services."
The Office also provides a direct hotline to the nearest Sir Speedy location. Based in Mission Vallejo, Calif., Sir Speedy offers printing, copying and digital networking services, and will pick up and deliver a guest's order electronically or manually.
AlphaNet is not the only provider of unattended hotel business centers. Mail Boxes Etc., based in San Diego, in cooperation with USA Technologies, a Wayne, Pa.-based payment systems company, is rolling out MBE Business Express centers to several hotel chains. MBE Business Express provides direct links to Mail Boxes, Etc., including any necessary postal needs.
The facilities are now in 57 hotels from the Best Western, Choice International, Marriott and Promus systems. A recent agreement with Prime Hospitality also will bring them to the AmeriSuites brandl.
Mail Boxes, Etc. is aiming to place 700 MBE Business Express units by the end of 1998 and a total of 1,000 by April 1999.
Marriott spokesperson Geary Campbell said several new MBE Business Express centers will arrive at Marriott locations in the future, particularly at hotels with high transient traveler traffic. "It's right for hotels that cannot justify a traditional business center but still see the need to provide amenities to the business traveler," she said.
Hilton Hotels, too, is "aggressively moving forward" with plans to provide unattended business express centers, said director of business services John Luft. Although some Hiltons already have full-service business centers, "a high percentage of business travelers staying with Hilton frequent secondary and tertiary markets, locations that cannot run a full business center," he noted.
Aiming for consistency, Hilton plans to offer business amenities and services in some form at every location. Hilton is expecting to align with a supplier, create a cobranded express center and implement it at 12 hotels each month. Luft said it is "conceivable" the chain will have a systemwide rollout by the end of the year.