Interactive Cable TV Finds an Audience in Hotel Guests

What’s the first thing most guests do upon entering a hotel room? Turn on the television set.

As many as nine out of 10 travelers grab the remote control even before they open the drapes or hang up a coat, according to one industry executive.

So it’s not surprising that both business and leisure travelers are finding themselves part of a new captive market for sophisticated programming that goes beyond standard cable and commercial television fare.

In one interactive TV system developed by Bell Atlantic Corp., guests use the remote to access files on night life, restaurants, shopping, points of interest and other information.

For instance, the guest can select a restaurant by type of cuisine, view a brief commercial that shows the facility and some of its fare, click on a button that will call the restaurant for a reservation, then order a printout of a map showing how to get there. The map, which can be picked up at the front desk, might even have a coupon attached.

Dana Able, market manager for Bell Atlantic Electronic Publishing Inc., said surveys indicate that 90% of guests say turning on the TV is the first thing they do upon entering a room. She called her company’s system a win-win situation for the hotel and its guests, adding that the coupon feature for restaurants and other services is especially popular.

Bell Atlantic’s system has been operating in 5,100 rooms in the Washington area for a year and will be available in another 1,000 rooms in July. It will begin operating in the Chicago area later this year.

Thomas Pelletreau, director of new business development for Bell Atlantic, said guests accessed over a million pieces of advertising during the first nine months the system was operating, and that usage in general has been far beyond expectations.

There are a variety of hotel TV systems under development or in use around the country.

In Chicago and New York, many hotel rooms offer a direct-sale, non-interactive channel that offers viewers a tour of the city’s cultural highlights and several restaurant reviews. The channel repeats the program every hour or so, and the hotel’s facilities are featured at the beginning of the promotion.

The system, called Chicagovision and Applevision, respectively, has been highly successful in prompting guests to visit advertised restaurants, the company said.