In meeting and guest rooms, the major hotel chains now provide technology that companies once considered frills. Read on for the latest news and upgrades.

Adam's Mark Hotels & Resorts (800) 766-MEET www.adamsmark.com * Of Adam's Mark's 22 hotels, the Adam's Mark Dallas has the company's most advanced meeting technology, with network connectivity, fiber optics, DSL, and ISDN in all 230,000 square feet of its meeting space, as well as data ports for Internet access in all 1,842 guest rooms.

Delta Hotels and Resorts (800) 387-1265 www.deltahotels.com * By year's end, most guest rooms in Delta Hotels and Resorts' 31 hotels will have high-speed Internet access. At the Delta Vancouver Suites, each of the 226 suites has high-speed Internet access for $9.95 a day, two telephone lines, two speakerphones, and a data port. "Plug-and-play" capabilities in rooms and the lobby offer access to the Internet with almost any laptop computer. The 5,000 square feet of meeting space features high-speed Internet access with remote capabilities, numerous telephone lines, and extensive AV equipment.

Fairmont Hotels & Resorts (800) 866-5577 www.fairmont.com * Some meeting rooms in this chain feature Ethernet lines with 10-megabit capacity (200 times faster than a normal modem) carried on a T3 backbone; this will become standard in all locations. Each Fairmont hotel has two to three tech staffers. Plug-and-play technology for wireless Internet connections is being installed in guest rooms for laptops. The 392 guest rooms at The Fairmont Vancouver Airport have Internet access, and the 14 meeting rooms (7,000 square feet of space) offer teleconferencing, videoconferencing, and Internet access.

Hilton Hotels Corp. (800) 321-3232 www.hilton.com * Hilton has T1 lines in all meeting rooms and plans to increase its bandwidth to BS3. Hilton's full-service hotels offer on-demand video and high-speed Internet access in selected guest rooms. Plans include Internet access in all rooms as well as videoconferencing in all hotels.

Hyatt Hotels & Resorts (800) 543-1818 www.hyatt.com * Hyatt plans to install high-speed Internet access in all its rooms within the next year. The 793-room Hyatt Regency San Francisco Airport has high-speed connectivity to meeting rooms, a full multi-load fiber backbone, and broadband Internet access. This hotel, with 52,000 square feet of meeting space, has 20 technicians on staff to build networks for clients.

Inter-Continental Hotels and Resorts (800) 327-0200 www.interconti.com * All North American Inter-Continentals will have T1 lines by the end of 2000, and a quarter of all rooms will have PCs. The chain's CyberAssist program provides 24-hour technology support service worldwide to help guests.

Kimpton Group (415) 397-5572 www.kimptongroup.com * Many of the Kimpton Group's 28 hotels feature in-room fax machines, dual-line phones, and high-speed Internet access. At Kimpton's Serrano Hotel in San Francisco, with 3,000 square feet of meeting space, guest rooms have Darwin networks that can be accessed for $9.95 a day. At Denver's 189-room Hotel Monaco, with 4,000 square feet of meeting space, rooms have IPORT, with 50 times faster Internet connections than modems.

Loews Hotels (212) 521-2000 www.loewshotels.com * One of Loews' most wired hotels, the Loews Miami Beach has ISDN, T1, and videoconferencing access throughout its 8,500 square feet of meeting space. The 800 guest rooms have data ports, and select rooms will soon have Web TV.

Marriott International Hotels, Resorts, and Suites (800) 626-3614 www.marriott.com * Marriott will install STSN (Suite Technology Systems Network) high-speed Internet access systems in guest rooms, meeting rooms, and business centers of 500 properties by the end of the year. The system provides secure Internet access up to 50 times faster than conventional data ports. More than 100 Marriott properties have the plug-and-play system, which works with any laptop or computer. For $9.95 a day, 24-hour Internet access is available. Marriotts have tech support teams. ISDN videoconferencing provides audio and video interactivity at more than 300 properties. Web streaming capabilities allow Web-based broadcasting and program archiving.

Omni Hotels (800) OMNI-EXP www.omnihotels.com * By October, each Omni guest room will have high-speed Internet access. Omni's meeting rooms have dial-up extensions off its phone system, with patch panels in place so that 8 to 10 extensions can be added to a meeting room; meeting rooms also have Category 5 cabling for data and high-speed technology. Two of Omni's hotels, Omni Interlocken Resort in Broomfield, Colo., and Omni Austin (Texas) Hotel Downtown have high-speed Internet access in meeting rooms, and a technology staffperson.

Radisson Hotels & Resorts (800) 444-3344 www.radisson.com * Radisson hotels offer broadband interactive communications in guest rooms, meeting rooms, and common areas of 30 hotels in North America. For $10 a day, guests with laptops outfitted with a standard Ethernet card can simultaneously access the Internet and talk on the phone. Nearly 50 Radisson hotels and resorts in the U.S. and Canada offer videoconferencing, including point-to-point, multipoint, multicast, and streaming video.

Ritz-Carlton Hotels (800) 241-3333 www.ritzcarlton.com. * Ritz-Carlton has Internet access in all guest rooms of 15 of its hotels, allowing guests with a standard Ethernet or USB cable to simultaneously access the Internet and talk on the phone for $9.95 a day. A link to the hotels' business centers allows guests to print documents, order copies, or send/receive a fax directly from their PCs. Another feature: Notes and agendas can be made available for each meeting's individualized link from the hotel's own home page.

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts N.Y.: (212) 768-3190; Los Angeles: (310) 665-2000 www.shangri-la.com * All of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts' 37 properties in 10 Asian countries are adding high-speed Internet connections to guest rooms. The 703-room Makati Shangri-La, Manila, has installed two in-room Internet products: MagiNet Laptop Connect (MLC) and Passport, giving guests high-speed, full-bandwidth connections without the need for a local ISP.

Sonesta Hotels & Resorts (800) 477-4556 www.sonesta.com * Sonesta will soon install T1 lines in all domestic meeting rooms. Each hotel has a technology consultant for groups. One of Sonesta's most technologically advanced properties, the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, Mass., has multiple phone lines in all suites and modem ports in all guest rooms, with high-speed Internet access to all 22,000 square feet of meeting space and 400 guest rooms. T1 lines and multiple Category 5 cabling connect all meeting rooms.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts (800) 325-3535 www.starwood.com * Starwood outfits its meeting rooms with T1 lines to the hotel and 100 megabit lines to meeting rooms. Each hotel has a consultant on staff.

Swissotel (800)63swiss www.swissotel.com * Videoconferencing equipment is standard in the 23 Swissotels around the world; most have ISDN lines, and some have fiber-optic backbones. T1 lines to all function rooms can be arranged. All hotels have staff tech teams. The 320-room Swissotel Berlin, opening in 2001, will set the standard for the chain's guest-room technology with LCD televisions that can display digital television and PC content, plus DVD and surround sound. The hotel will have nine meeting rooms.

Walt Disney World Resort (407) 828-3074 www.disney.com * Each of the Disney Meeting resorts has data ports available in guest rooms; additional lines can be provided for high-speed Internet access. Disney resorts' meeting rooms can provide T1 lines, ISDN, videoconferencing, and fiber-optic and broadcasting (satellite up- and downlink) capability. A single contact person works with each group, with backup as needed from on-site information services, telecommunications, and broadcasting experts.

Westin Hotels & Resorts (800) 301-1111 www.westin.com * Westin features office accommodations for business travelers, with in-room laser printers/fax/copiers, and dual-line speakerphones with data ports. The new 369-room Westin Westminster, in Colorado's high-tech corridor, offers Ethernet ports with giga-speed cabling and a fiber-optic backbone that allows Internet access at 200 times the speed of a high-speed modem. The hotel also offers WaveLAN, a card granting wireless high-speed Internet access. The hotel's 40,000 square feet of meeting space combines giga-speed drops, fiber drops, and telephone drops, which can be arranged to accommodate up to 10,000 simultaneously active computers.

Wyndham International Hotels & Resorts (800) 996-4016 www.wyndham.com * Wyndham will soon have T1 lines in all guest rooms and meeting rooms. The 1,620-room Wyndham Anatole Hotel in Dallas has 300,000 square feet of meeting space equipped with a fiber-optic backbone for Category 5 cabling. No electronics are installed yet, but patch panels are labeled to coincide with the wall plates to the meeting rooms. The hotel will soon offer Internet access at T1 speeds or higher, and wireless access in public areas. Videoconferencing as well as Internet meetings will be possible.

Andrea Graham, a freelance business writer, is based in Paramus, N.J.

Conference Centers: How Wired Are They? Most conference centers are well equipped to fill customers' high-tech requests, according to the results of a recent survey of 92 IACC (International Association of Conference Centers) members. All responding centers said they offer Internet access in their meeting rooms--except for a couple of corporate-owned facilities--for an average price per day of $96. Most still offer access through regular telephone lines, but 29 percent having installed T1 lines. Seventy-five percent of the facilities said they provide videoconferences, the majority (59 percent) doing so through portable systems using ISDN lines; just over a quarter have built-in up/downlinks. For training meetings that require computers, 12 percent of respondents can provide the hardware.

In-room technology in conference centers is on par with other types of facilities: 89 percent of the centers responding to IACC's survey have data ports in the rooms (about half provide two or more lines), 23 percent provide in-room computers, and 16 percent provide in-room faxes. --Barbara Scofidio

It's the Tech Support That Counts What matters most to a company when choosing a tech-savvy hotel? At PriceWaterhouseCoopers LLP, which holds hundreds of meetings each year, it's not just the latest technology, it's the tech support, says Tampa, Fla.-based Trevor Welsh, manager of Global Technology Solutions (GTS).

"Individuals usually don't have an understanding of things like networks and patches," says Welsh. "Yet in most instances, a phone technician is all they get."

Ritz-Carlton has solved this problem with "technology butlers" in each hotel, on call 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Among the most common problems they solve: getting access to the Internet and personal e-mail, resolving software compatibility issues, and using in-room fax machines. The "butlers" also can provide voltage conversion/adapters for international guests; cell phone, pager, and PalmPilot rentals; and help organizing conference calls.