NEW YORK— An increasing number of major hotels brands are making high-speed Internet access a brand standard, but it is not only because guests are asking for it. In many cases it is the owners or operators of the hotels who are being more proactive driving the move toward making this amenity a necessity.
Two of the most recent examples of hotel companies jumping on the HSIA bandwagon include InterContinental Hotel Group’s initiative to make all of its brands compliant by early 2005, and Hilton Hotels completing the installation of HSIA in all of its Hilton Garden Inn properties with similar plans for several of its other brands.
While, generally decisions that mandate that franchisees invest more money into their properties can be the source of some resistance, when it comes to HSIA it does not seem to be an issue.
“We as a company were not pushing hard. The owners were challenging us and they nudged us over the finish line,” said Tom Seddon, senior vp, Americas brand performance, IHG, who further explained the company’s decision to do it now. “We’ve reached a point of critical mass with consumers and it’s important to provide it. Up until now it has been kind of a niche, [it has]hit the mainstream now.”
Approximately 30% to 50% of the company’s 2,500 plus hotels already offer HSIA, but the franchisees will see wide-reaching benefits from the mandate, according to Seddon.
“[There are a] couple of levels of benefits. Customers will know wherever they stay, they are getting HSIA,” he said.
While the company is not offering its franchisees that are not currently compliant any direct assistance, Seddon said IHG has put money into finding good quality vendors and service providers to help its franchisees as well as its many corporate-owned hotels.
HSIA has become something of an expectation for guests of the company’s wide range of brands, which include InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Crowne Plaza, Holiday Inn, Holiday Inn Express and Staybridge Suites, according to Seddon.
“Over time HSIA will be just part of being in a hotel. By 2006, it will be an expected service,” he said. “If you’re equipped to use it, then it becomes something that you really want,” he added.
With regards to its mid-market brands, the company will bundle the costs in with the room rates but in the more high-end hotels such as the InterContinental and Crowne Plaza, there will be an additional charge, Seddon said.
“People in upscale hotels are used to paying for service, [in the]mid-market [they are]not used to paying for things that are extra,” he said.
While Seddon would not disclose any specific marketing plans related to the company’s implementation of HSIA, he acknowledged they would be spreading the word. “We will be marketing the fact that we have HSIA. We spent to put it in, we will spend money to market that fact,” he said.
As for the respective brands, all IHG brands globally will offer HSIA in all guestrooms as well as wireless in the lobby and other primary public areas. By the end of 2004, all Crowne Plaza hotels in North America will be in compliance.
By the end of 2004, all of the more than 1,000 Holiday Inn hotels in North America are to offer free HSIA in all guest-rooms and in some public and meeting rooms. In addition, Holiday Inn Express hotels in North America will offer free HSIA in all guest-rooms and in some public and meeting areas.
HSIA has always been available in all guestrooms, meeting rooms and public areas at Staybridge Suites hotels in North America since the brand’s launch in 1998.
Meanwhile, Hilton International, for its part, has completed the installation of HSIA in its 180 Hilton Garden Inn properties, a mid-priced brand targeting largely business travelers with some 24,852 guestrooms. Since the company first began offering complimentary HSIA in guestrooms in October 2002, the brand completed the rollout as scheduled in slightly less than 14 months.
Hilton’s Hampton Inn brand is also expected to have free HSIA in every guestroom by year’s end, as well as wireless access in their lobbies/public spaces. The company also expects to have HSIA in all of its Homewood Suites properties by April.
