NEWS & NOTES

August 2004

travel recovery
The big slump in U.S. business travel may finally be over, according to the Travel Industry Association of America. The trade group is predicting that the number of business trips in this country will grow by 4.6 percent in 2004, to a total of 145 million. If so, that would mark the first year-over-year increase since 1999, when changes in the economy and then the 9/11 attacks led to a long-term decline in corporate travel. The group cited improving economic conditions as the primary driver of the increase, and predicted that business trips would grow by another 3.5 percent in 2005. Major hotel chains have also been reporting improved occupancies and rising rates this year, further evidence of the recovery.

business centers
Users of Kinko's stores across the country will see some changes soon, thanks to the acquisition of the chain by FedEx Corp. The stores will henceforth be known as FedEx Kinko's Office and Print Centers, and services will be expanded. By the third quarter of this year, a company spokesman said, "The full range of FedEx day-definite ground and time-definite global express services will be available in all U.S. locations." By December, FedEx said, the Kinko's locations should all be offering complete pack-and-ship capabilities as well. And of course they'll still provide copying, Internet access, computers, printing and all the usual Kinko's services.

hotel news

  • The latest hotel company to jump on the better-bed bandwagon is Radisson, which will replace its 90,000 beds in North America over the next three years with new Sleep Number beds, which allow guests to adjust the firmness of the mattress. Also coming: new 250-thread-count sheets and plush feather and down pillows
  • Hats off to Wyndham Hotels for a pro-consumer innovation: reducing the cost of those overpriced items in guest room mini-bars. Soft drinks in cans are now $1.50, candy bars are $1.25
  • The recent opening of a new London Marriott in the Canary Wharf area puts Marriott over the 500,000-room mark. The chain expects to add another 95,000 by 2007
  • Hyatt has started installing T-Mobile HotSpot Wi-Fi service in public areas of its U.S. hotels.

    self service
    Checking in for your hotel room could soon be as automated as checking in for your flight. Sheraton has started nationwide deployment of lobby kiosks that will let guests check themselves in and out, and will also allow them to receive messages, get extra room keys or upgrades, change their room selection, and print or e-mail their room bills. Lodging giant Marriott International is pilot-testing new self-service kiosks in hotels at Newark Airport, Crystal Gateway in Washington, D.C. and in Hanover, N.J. Created by NCR Corp., the kiosks handle check-in and check-out, room changes, key encoding and dispensing, folio printing, even arrival gift selection for Marriott Rewards platinum members.

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