NEW YORK— Nestled in midtown Manhattan’s up-and-coming ‘hotel row,’ the upscale Sofitel New York not only offers guests a touch of European hospitality, but also high-tech amenities to lure many of the city’s bustling business travelers. The 398-room, 30-story hotel, owned by Paris-based Accor, opened on July 14, 2000 fully equipped with all of the latest technologies, from interactive television to high-speed Internet access. In fact, each of the hotel’s guestrooms offers three different ways to log-on to the Internet, including traditional dataports, high-speed cable modems and WebTV. According to GM Erik Anderouard, the hotel caters primarily to laptop-toting business travelers that need to stay connected, which is why the hotel partnered with On Command Corp. to install a high-speed ISDN cable modem with plug-and-play connectivity. “More and more people are demanding to get on the web fast to work. They won’t accept a 56K modem anymore,” said Anderouard. Though the GM feels the demand for high-speed access is growing, he noted that usage rates for the new technology are low, and in fact, dataports still remain as the most popular way to log on. However, many of the problems with high-speed access can be directed more towards the guest’s employer than the hotel, said Anderouard. “Companies put up fire walls so they can’t access information from the outside,” he said. Now guests that can’t get into their corporate network, or those who just want to surf the web without frustration, can chose to log on via their guestroom television. The hotel’s WebTV technology, which is also provided by On Command, offers an infrared keyboard that allows guests to type from any point in their room. “There’s no wire from the keyboard to the TV,” he said. “Guests can type on the keyboard from their beds.” The in-room televisions are also equipped with On Command’s SpectraVision, a pay-per-view, digital-movie system that allows guests to order any of the featured movies at any time they want. There are no designated show times; instead movies can be started and paused at will. Even the mini-bars in this hotel are high-tech. Guestrooms feature infrared mini-bars, which electronically track everything that’s removed from the fridge. “If a guest takes a bottle, we know. And we can refill exactly what they need,” said Anderouard. “Instead of having to check every mini-bar in the hotel, we only need to go the rooms that need it.” Guestrooms are also equipped with two-line phones that can accept data and voice at the same time, so guests will never miss a message nor worry about tying up the line. Travelers staying at the Sofitel can even request a different, direct-dial phone or fax number, according to Anderouard. The hotel’s phone system, provided by GTE, is equipped to provide a new, separate number to each room if the need should arise. “We have a lot of high-profile guests that have their own secretaries and want them be able to go directly to their ‘new office’ that’s set up in the hotel for few days,” he said. In addition, the hotel is also very focused on providing a quick check-in process for its guests, and has installed a high-speed computer system that should eliminate the need for long lines. The rapid check-in system, provided by Fidelio, allows hotel staff to move from one computer screen to the next very quickly in order to facilitate the process. “We want our staff to talk to the guests, not look at a computer screen,” said Anderouard. “Eventually, we’d want guests to not even realize there is a computer behind the desk.” All of the hotel’s systems— front desk, F&B, etc.— are hooked up to the same Fidelio interface so that every purchase or request a guest makes automatically goes to his/her account seamlessly. In addition, the hotel offers high-tech meeting rooms that also include high-speed Internet access and dozens of phone lines. The hotel even has a room designated for video conferencing that offers equipm
