LAS VEGAS — Fontainebleau Resorts plans to provide an Apple
iMac computer in each of the 5,300 rooms at its soon-to-reopen,
remodeled Miami flagship and $3 billion hotel-casino being built
on the Las Vegas Strip.
The $15 million investment in the sleek 22-inch computers
is the marquee feature in an effort to add high-tech touches
throughout the resorts, says Fontainebleau majority owner Jeffrey
Soffer.
The Macs are Apple's first major venture into the hospitality
industry. A handful of small hotels already provide in-room
computers, and others have keyboards used for Web access through
the TV, but the Fontainebleau effort is on a far grander scale.
Apple hardware and software will be used for the Fontainebleau's
online reservation service, automated check-in kiosks and even
computerized, touch-screen maps that will personalize directions
for users. The computers will be standard in the room and free
to guests.
The in-room iMacs also will:
• Be preloaded with music playlists created by celebrities
that can be downloaded to iPods or other portable music devices.
• Have an interface for transferring photos from a digital
camera to be e-mailed to friends and family.
• Offer digital versions of the guests' hometown newspapers
when available.
"We want to create the first paperless hotel room," Soffer
says. A spokesman from Apple referred questions to Soffer.
The concept elicited conflicting reactions from faculty at
Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration.
"A computer in every hotel room is an amenity whose time has
come," says professor Chekitan Dev. He points to a 2005 Harris
Interactive survey of 2,400 travelers that showed in-room computers
were atop a list of products or services that were "missing
from your hotel stay that you would be willing to pay more for."
Dev's colleague, visiting professor Lisa Klein Pearo, is more
skeptical: "I'm not convinced that the paperless hotel is a
real selling point because people generally like pieces of paper
they can carry around with them."
The 54-year-old Fontainebleau in Miami Beach will have about
1,400 rooms when it reopens in early September after a $500
million renovation, and the 63-story Las Vegas resort will have
3,889 suites when it opens in October 2009.
Las Vegas Advisor newsletter publisher Anthony Curtis says
the move shows how important business-equipped rooms have become.
"Is this groundbreaking? I don't think really," he says. "Is
a good idea? Yes. It will be a good selling point."
