Checking Into a Tuned-In Concierge

Using a new interactive service aimed both at laptop-toting road warriors and technologically challenged vacationers, guests at seven Washington-area hotels can surf their way through the nation’s capital this summer--via the remote control on their in-room televisions.

Billed as “electronic yellow pages,” Bell Atlantic’s InfoTravel helps visitors choose a nearby restaurant, find a dentist or plan a tour of the Jefferson Memorial using the same system that provides pay-per-view movies. By punching in a number on the remote control, guests can even print out maps and directions or automatically call a restaurant to make reservations. The concept is similar to the electronic information kiosks already in use in several hotel lobbies and at airport car-rental counters.

But as I discovered during a recent demonstration at a Marriott in suburban Arlington, Va., InfoTravel is no substitute for a knowledgeable concierge or front desk clerk. And if the recent demise of a competing hotel interactive service is any indication, the technology needed to plan trips through a television set is still lagging.

InfoTravel was launched at five Washington-area Marriotts and two Hiltons last month. The service, free to guests and hotels, is supported by 135 local and national advertisers paying anywhere from $200 to $1,000 per month. InfoTravel advertisers are arranged by category--”Places to Eat,” “Things to Do,” “Services” and “Getting Around”--and are concentrated in downtown Washington.

In theory, a guest with a hankering for lasagna could browse through color pictures showing nearby Italian restaurants, then automatically connect to a restaurant via his or her room phone (with the call charged at regular hotel rates, anywhere from 50 to 90 cents per call) and then print out directions for pickup at the front desk. But the system has several glitches, including vague maps and restaurants that are identified with phone and street address but no city--a rather serious drawback for first-time visitors who don’t know Arlington from Alexandria.

About the same time Bell Atlantic introduced InfoTravel, Denver-based US West Marketing Resources Corp. decided to pull the plug on a competing system, which it had tested in 15 San Francisco hotels and two Orlando hotels. According to a US West spokeswoman, guest reaction to the service was positive--but upgrading existing equipment to provide interactive capability in every hotel room “would take a lot longer and cost more than we’d anticipated.”

Small bytes: In other hotel news, Holiday Inn last month became the first lodging chain to offer direct bookings via the Internet’s World Wide Web (https://www.holiday-inn.com). Several chains, including Best Western, Choice and Hyatt, supply rates and other information through the Internet or commercial on-line services, but would-be guests must still book through a travel agent or by calling a toll-free reservations number. Cybertravelers can book any of Holiday Inn’s 1,950 properties worldwide, but the only rates available on-line are rack rates. It may be too late to nab space for prime events at next summer’s Olympic Games in Atlanta, but if you’ve already got tickets, there are several good Web sources for planning your trip. For information on private housing try https://www.mindspring. com/~royal/olympic.html; the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games is at https://www.atlanta.olympic.org/.

Bly welcomes reader comments and suggestions. Her e-mail address: Laura.B[email protected].