PHILADELPHIA— The Hyatt Regency Philadelphia at Penn’s Landing has added in-room PCs as an amenity to its “Business Floor” rooms. The 350-room hotel, which opened last December, added the computers to 40 rooms in March, as part of a concierge-floor package that also includes use of the concierge lounge, continental breakfast and an elimination of telephone access fees. The entire “Business Floor” upgrade costs guests an extra $25, said Anthony Del Gaudio, director/marketing. The in-room PCs and their ancillary services are provided by Unisys, which is headquartered in nearby Blue Bell, PA. The installation of the service marks a strategy of Hyatt Hotels, which is beta-testing various forms of high-speed Internet connectivity throughout the country in hotels that are located near major providers. The Hyatt in Seattle, for example, is testing a Microsoft product, while the Hyatt in Austin, TX is testing a solution offered by nearby Dell. The Unisys PC has a flat-screen monitor and a keyboard, and is meant to act as a business tool, by providing such programs as Microsoft Word and Excel, as well as access to e-mail. It also acts as a hotel concierge, by allowing the guest to set up dinner reservations, tickets to concerts and local sporting events through the system, as well as providing information about the hotel. It also provides access to web-based news, weather, financial information and web-based music. “It’s really set up so that guests can conduct business in the room,” said Del Gaudio, who noted that “word is still getting out” about the availability of the system. Guests preferring to use their own laptops rather than the “Unisys e-@ction InRoom Connect solution” can access the Internet via “plug-and-play” style in their rooms, said Del Gaudio. Unisys also provides plug-and-play connectivity in the rest of the hotel’s guestrooms, as well as in its meeting rooms. Because of the high-speed connection in the meeting spaces, the hotel can provide videoconferencing and teleconferencing, said Del Gaudio. Unisys reports that following the initial deployment of the InRoom Connect services at the Hyatt Regency, plans are to integrate the system with the hotel’s customer relationship management (CRM) tools, allowing the hotel to personalize interactions with guests. The hotel sits on a waterfront site on the eastern edge of Philadelphia’s downtown. Because of its location at Penn’s Landing, it has access to the Independence Seaport Museum and the Simon Entertainment Complex, set to open next year. The Hyatt Regency is Philadelphia’s second Hyatt property; the brand several years ago took over the historic 172-room Bellevue hotel and renamed it the Park Hyatt Philadelphia.
