NATIONAL REPORT— While most hotel companies are focusing on the basics of the guest experience, such as the bedding and bathroom, many companies are also recognizing that in-room entertainment is increasingly becoming a vital part of the total guestroom package. With that idea in mind, hoteliers are realizing that if they add large video-on-demand libraries, high-definition televisions with HD content and DVD, CD and MP3 player capabilities to their guestrooms, they will not only be serving their guests better but will also be creating revenue-generating opportunities for themselves in addition to higher ADRs. Among those companies that have been well acquainted with this importance of in-room entertainment is White Plains, NY-based Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, Inc. But Starwood does not base its in-room entertainment focus on merely the perceived significance of in-room entertainment in guests’ eyes. Rather, it devotes time to this area because its value is based on researched fact. “We have great data on the viewing habits of guests,” pointed out Rod Mano, Starwood’s senior director of entertainment and technology. “Ninety-five percent of people actually turn on the TVs in guestrooms and watch them for over three hours a day on average. Once HD is deployed more significantly, that number will go up. And if you’re able to bring content not seen anywhere else, especially in HD, to the room, guests will go for that. We want to give guests the HD experience.” As a matter of statistical emphasis, Pete Engard, Starwood’s senior manager of entertainment and technology, added: “We’ve found that more guests watch TV in our guestrooms than use the soap.” With that said, Starwood has been focusing on providing better content at its branded hotels than its competitors. Toward that end, Starwood recently formed an agreement with LodgeNet Entertainment Corp. through which it will be able to offer movie content that will not be able to be seen in any non-Starwood-branded hotel. Furthermore, Engard explained that as part of a promotion with Turner Network Television, Sheraton properties became the only sites for the early 2006 season premier of TNT’s “The Closer” television series. The rest of the world saw the series premier two weeks later. Engard reported that such a promotional agreement was a first for the hotel industry. But as in-room entertainment-based technologies become more advanced, and Internet Protocol TV, for instance, becomes more commonplace, Starwood and other companies will have decisions to make regarding, for example, the utilization of personal video recording capabilities— such as the ability to pause live content— and connectivity for guests’ own entertainment devices and content. As a matter of fact, the ability of the guest to pause, stop and rewind live content was a huge selling point in the Four Seasons Hotel Boston’s recent selection of NXTV as its comprehensive in-room entertainment provider. That selection was part of a larger $43-million renovation that also included the installation of 42-inch plasma televisions and T1 high-speed Internet service in all guestrooms. “The biggest thing is to be able to pause and rewind the movies, so guests are able to watch an on-demand movie for 10 minutes and come back later and finish it,” said Gregory Schlosser, the Four Seasons Hotel Boston’s director of information technology. “That functionality is a huge selling point.” Schlosser further noted that the eventual prevalence of IPTV helped turn his hotel toward NXTV since the vendor is now working in that realm. “My understanding is that everything is going to be moving away from traditional coaxial cable and you’ll be able to use CAT6 wiring for VOD and maybe even free-to-guest channels,” Schlosser said. “It’s also more cost effective and there are less points of failure with IPTV.” James Lingle, the director of IT at John Q. Hammons Hotels in Springfield, MO, said that he also knows that IPTV coul
