Do we really want a PC in every room?

Can in-room personal computers emancipate us from the heavy laptops we lug around with us?

At least one hotel chain thinks so. Choice Hotels International, recently unveiled an ambitious plan to install PCs with high-speed Internet connectivity in its hotel rooms. Although its “rooms of the future” project is only in the early testing phase, chain officials anticipate at least 50,000 rooms will be wired by the time they’re done.

If Choice Hotels moves ahead with putting a PC in every room – and all indications are that it will – then this could represent the single largest investment in hotel computer technology ever, if not the beginning of a new trend in the lodging business.

Or so they say.

Talk to frequent travelers, and they’ll tell you another story. They’ll say that ditching a notebook isn’t so simple and that there are many technological hurdles that will remain if – and they stress the if – this becomes a new hotel industry standard.

“I wonder how much this is needed,” muses Barry Farber, a very frequent traveler based in Livingston, NJ, and author of the book, Dive Right In: 101 Powerful Action Steps for Personal Achievement. “Will people be more productive? If so, how much? Is it worth the investment for the hotel?”

Good question – and one I put to Choice Hotels’ Anne Curtis.

“You have to understand that this is still being tested. We’re still determining if this is an amenity that guests want,” she says.

Isn’t that something you usually do before you begin investing millions of dollars in technology? Curtis said the chain’s executives knew that guests wanted Internet connectivity in rooms, and then “we figured out if we could do more. And we’re a bunch of bright people here, and this [in-room PC] is what we came up with.”

The next six to twelve months will probably tell how bright the folks at Choice Hotels were. I, for one, hope they succeed. But not like this. The SuiteLink Internet portal isn’t exactly a bargain to use, from the sounds of it. According to Curtis, guests are charged a fee to utilize the wordprocessor and spreadsheet programs on the computer, plus they have to access the Internet through a Web-like portal that the hotel gets to designate. So this in-room “amenity” is really more of a premium, like Pay TV or the minibar.

I think that when you place restrictions like that on information technology – in the corporate travelers’ case, much needed – information technology, then you’re asking for trouble.

Let’s get away from the Choice example for a moment, though. Let’s assume that every property now suddenly comes standard with a fast PC hooked up to a high-speed data connection. Would folks leave their computers at home?

Probably not. Here’s why:

- For starters, you’ve got the memory issue. Do you take a CD-ROM drive with you? A floppy disk? Maybe one of those newfangled Click! Devices? Who knows?

- Then there’s the software problem. Microsoft Word and Excel are no-brainers, but what happens when you need an obscure (or expensive) program? Do you go out and buy another copy?

- How about hardware compatibility? We can safely assume that these computers are WinTel PCs. What if you’re a die-hard Macintosh user or if you have to log on to a UNIX workstation?

- Finally, let’s spare a thought for security. Say you download your e-mail onto a hotel desktop. What happens when you leave? Who will be able to access it? What if you log on to a secure Extranet when you use an in-room PC? Does your cookie stay with the machine?

To these questions, I’d like to add my person observations about traveling with a laptop. My most productive time with a laptop is on a plane. There are fewer distractions than in a hotel room, and if I get a good seat, I can usually finish a days’ worth of writing in less than four hours. Maybe it’s just something about being in on an aircraft.

In a hotel, I mostly use my laptop to check e-mail and respond to it. I click on Word rarely, perhaps to compose a fax or to put the finishing touches on a column. When I check in to the room, I turn on the TV and review the room service menu. I forage through the minibar and call home, but I hardly ever reach for the laptop.

I know that other travelers feel their hotel room an extension of their office. That goes double for guests at an all-suite property, where they’ve checked in for an extended stay. There, I can understand the need for an in-room PC. But for the more transient guests, is this an amenity worth having?

We’ll know the answer soon enough.

Christopher Elliott is the author of Scammed: How to Save Your Money and Find Better Service in a World of Schemes, Swindles, and Shady Deals. Critics have called it “eye-opening” and “inspiring” — it’ll “grab your attention and won’t let go.” Order your copy now on Amazon, Barnes & Noble or iTunes.

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