Awakening at the new Hilton Santa Clara, you have a tough choice. Should you head across the street to your meetings at the Santa Clara Convention Center or play hooky and skip next door to Paramount's Great America Theme Park? Let's assume you plan to Do The Right Thing, but before you head out, you decide to check your e-mail over a cappuccino in the restaurant. No problem — the connection is wireless.

The folks who designed the telecommunications for the Hilton Santa Clara, which opened this past December, obviously planned for their tech-savvy clients. While “state-of-the-art” is a fast-moving target in the heart of Silicon Valley, the Hilton has aimed for it. The property offers wireless Web access from all public areas (including meeting rooms, the lobby, lounge, and health club). Meeting rooms — a ballroom for up to 360 people, five hospitality suites, and an executive boardroom that seats 50 — feature fiber-optic cabling, allowing streaming video and multimedia presentations. Links to the San Jose Convention Center network enable interactivity with ongoing conventions.

Each of the 280 rooms and suites has two T1 phone lines for high-speed “plug and play” Internet access, voice mail, and data ports, not to mention Internet-enhanced television with wireless keyboard and Nintendo video games.

Management includes Michael A. Hartnett, director of sales and marketing, who built his career at such properties as San Francisco's Westin St. Francis, Grand Hyatt San Francisco, and the Hyatt Regency Maui. Michele Costa is the director of convention services. Her background includes positions at the Westin Hotel, Santa Clara, and the Beverly Heritage Hotel, Milpitas, among other properties.