The opening of the Sheraton Russell Hotel in New York late last month, ITT Sheraton's first all business room property--featuring 146 corporate club rooms, 26 of which are suites--is a vote of confidence by the chain in the business class room concept, and will be followed by further developments in the coming year.
"Most if not all of our downtown hotels have dedicated club floors," said Dan Weadock, president and CEO of ITT Sheraton Corp. "As the demand goes up, we increase the number of floors. And we see that demand increasing around the world."
Weadock said demand was particularly apparent in Boston, Chicago, New Orleans, London, Rome and Milan. "In these cities we are turning several floors into corporate club floors. If we see there is pent up demand, we'll look at the alternative of an entire corporate club room hotel." The Sheraton Manhattan will become an all-corporate club room hotel this summer.
Weadock agreed that Internet TV will be the next step in the development of the business class room, which so far includes in-room faxes, copiers and printers, better desks and lighting and two-line phones.
"We are looking at systems from four or five Internet TV vendors and will make a decision about which one to use by the end of the year," he said.
Weadock said that the ability to tailor homepages for guests on Internet TV, as is currently being done in Sheraton's Penang property, provides a real opportunity to customize service.
"We'll have it in half a dozen hotels in the next 12 months, in Rome, London, New York, LA, Sydney and Hong Kong," he said. "We're debating now whether to do the entire hotel or certain floors. You want a system you can add on to. It's getting the platform right that's critical to us now."
Weadock, who last month announced 30 new properties in nine countries, said the additions, which represented "at least 20 separate deals," were similar to 28 new hotels announced in February. "I expect to have many more announcements like this between now and the end of the year."
Regarding Hilton's efforts to acquire Sheraton, the CEO said the effort would end in a showdown at the shareholders meeting. The ITT Corp. board of directors has not yet established a date for that meeting, which under its bylaws must be held by mid-November.
"The shareholders at the end of the day will make the decision. I personally am very confident that our shareholders will see the value of Sheraton in the long term and stay with us," Weadock said. "We're growing in spite of this shadow hanging over us. Once that veil comes down, things are really going to take off.