Business travelers tired of lugging their laptops around should come here to get a glimpse of a less cumbersome future.
All over the world, in response to demand for the high-technology amenities that their guests enjoy in their homes and offices, hotels are racing to install high-speed Internet access, e-mail and a variety of wireless and digital services. The Tribeca Grand Hotel in New York, owned by Hartz Mountain Industries, for instance, has in-room broadband Internet access and wireless keyboards so that customers can surf the Net from bed. Each room at the Sandy Lane Resort Hotel in Barbados has a 107cm Panasonic plasma TV screen on which guests can roam the Web.
And the Plaza Hotel in New York, part of the Fairmont Hotels and Resorts chain, equips each room with a stand-alone personal computer. By the end of July, all of the Fairmont's 38 properties will offer wireless Internet access in public spaces, enabling guests to check their e-mail messages while having cocktails in the bar, for instance.
Now, several hotels in London have moved to the forefront of this trend by combining fully equipped personal computers, high-speed Internet access, and digital movies and music on demand in one unit, industry specialists say. The systems are often paired with flat-screen television sets that provide all the clarity of a PC without the problem of reformatting pages to fit traditional Web-TV services.
Designed by Neos Interactive, a privately held British company that bought the technology in 1999 from a group of researchers at Trinity College Dublin, these all-in-one systems combine, in the space of a traditional television cabinet, a computer, scanner, printer and fax machine. Using a wireless keyboard, guests can collect e-mail messages, surf the Internet, download digital movies and music on demand, and even listen to local radio stations from cities around the world.
The Lanesborough, part of St. Regis Hotels and Resorts, became the first hotel in London to install the system two years ago in each of its 95 rooms. Now, the Dorchester, managed by the Dorchester Group, which is owned by the Brunei Investment Agency, is installing the same system in all of the hotel's 250 rooms as part of a broader refurbishment. Fourteen rooms have the system, with 40 expected to be up and running by the end of July and the rest in September.
"This type of system is at the leading edge of hotel room technology," said Alex Lristou, a partner with the Travel Services Group of the consulting firm Accenture.
Lesley Ashplant, a consultant with Ernst & Young, said it was becoming the norm for high-end hotels to offer high-speed Internet access and videos on demand. "But," she added, "actually providing a PC and having it all integrated in one unit is quite unusual."
Since the systems are custom-designed, hotels choose the hardware separately. The Dorchester, for instance, is installing NEC 107cm plasma screens in 90 rooms and 71cm Loewe sets in the others. Rooms will have a Compaq computer with a Pentium4 processor complete with Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint. No top-notch entertainment system is viable today without broadband, and so the Dorchester and the Lanesborough installed fiber-optic cables that provide a high-speed Internet connection. Guests pay a flat fee of ?15, or US$22.83, for access over a 24-hour period, rather than higher local phone rates.
Executives who are able to eke out a few moments of leisure can choose from 60 movies on demand for ?10 each, or US$15.22, for unlimited access over a 24-hour period. Those in need of a little background music while they work can download up to 5,000 tracks (?3.50 over 24 hours), or tune into local radio stations over the Internet.
New Yorker Robert Bradford, who is a regular guest at the Dorchester, was impressed. "I've never seen anything like this in a hotel. You get local radio stations. I've been listening to TMPC in Los Angeles, and getting New York weather and the latest stock quotes from Bloomberg Radio."
NO HUMAN ERROR: After the incident, the Coast Guard Administration said it would obtain uncrewed aerial vehicles and vessels to boost its detection capacity Authorities would improve border control to prevent unlawful entry into Taiwan’s waters and safeguard national security, the Mainland Affairs Council (MAC) said yesterday after a Chinese man reached the nation’s coast on an inflatable boat, saying he “defected to freedom.” The man was found on a rubber boat when he was about to set foot on Taiwan at the estuary of Houkeng River (後坑溪) near Taiping Borough (太平) in New Taipei City’s Linkou District (林口), authorities said. The Coast Guard Administration’s (CGA) northern branch said it received a report at 6:30am yesterday morning from the New Taipei City Fire Department about a
IN BEIJING’S FAVOR: A China Coast Guard spokesperson said that the Chinese maritime police would continue to carry out law enforcement activities in waters it claims The Philippines withdrew its coast guard vessel from a South China Sea shoal that has recently been at the center of tensions with Beijing. BRP Teresa Magbanua “was compelled to return to port” from Sabina Shoal (Xianbin Shoal, 仙濱暗沙) due to bad weather, depleted supplies and the need to evacuate personnel requiring medical care, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) spokesman Jay Tarriela said yesterday in a post on X. The Philippine vessel “will be in tiptop shape to resume her mission” after it has been resupplied and repaired, Philippine Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who heads the nation’s maritime council, said
CHINA POLICY: At the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China, the two sides issued strong support for Taiwan and condemned China’s actions in the South China Sea The US and EU issued a joint statement on Wednesday supporting Taiwan’s international participation, notably omitting the “one China” policy in a departure from previous similar statements, following high-level talks on China and the Indo-Pacific region. The statement also urged China to show restraint in the Taiwan Strait. US Deputy Secretary of State Kurt Campbell and European External Action Service Secretary-General Stefano Sannino cochaired the seventh US-EU Dialogue on China and the sixth US-EU Indo-Pacific Consultations from Monday to Tuesday. Since the Indo-Pacific consultations were launched in 2021, references to the “one China” policy have appeared in every statement apart from the
More than 500 people on Saturday marched in New York in support of Taiwan’s entry to the UN, significantly more people than previous years. The march, coinciding with the ongoing 79th session of the UN General Assembly, comes close on the heels of growing international discourse regarding the meaning of UN Resolution 2758. Resolution 2758, adopted by the UN General Assembly in 1971, recognizes the People’s Republic of China (PRC) as the “only lawful representative of China.” It resulted in the Republic of China (ROC) losing its seat at the UN to the PRC. Taiwan has since been excluded from