You can always count on Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants to be on the technology tip. For the latest proof, guest convenience—and, no doubt, aesthetics–it’s showcasing uniquely flexible Apple computers.
Now that Apple is using Intel chips, its computers can run both Mac and Windows operating systems—unlike Windows-limited PCs. That versatility is the reason Kimpton , a key player in the boutique hotel field, is installing Apple iMac computers in its business centers.
Kimpton partnered with ElevenWireless, a Portland, OR company, to develop ElevenBC, its all-in-one business center solution.
“Some of our guests favor Windows and others prefer Mac,” says Andrew Furrer, vice president of technology at San Francisco-based Kimpton. “ElevenBC is tailored for delivering a seamless experience for business travelers, regardless of their preferred environment.”
What Kimpton left unsaid in its news release is that iMacs—white, flat-screen computers that deliver great graphics in a minimalist, elegant design—perfectly complement (and compliment) Kimpton’s own, individualist aesthetic sense.
Will Kimpton follow the Westin Chicago River North and install iMacs in all its guestrooms? It would be a perfect fit. It’s nice to see Apple going more mainstream in such a boutique fashion.

I marvel at the constant parade of clever promotional attention-getters that come across my desk. Hoteliers are some of the most creative marketers around, and they have to be if they wish to make their properties stand out from the cut-throat crowd.

Here’s a couple of pumped-up promotions that caught my eye recently:
∑ As gas prices shoot up for the summer travel season, the Paramount Hotel New York will put free gas in your car. Guests simply show their gas receipts, dated within 24 hours of arrival, upon check-in and the hotel will refund their bill up to $30.
∑ Also from New York City comes the NYC to Go special at Buckingham Hotel—upon check-out, the hotel provides interested guests a boxed lunch featuring a mile-high corned beef sandwich from famed Carnegie Deli, plus a Dr. Browns Crème Soda and a pickle. (Um, I’m not sure how that aromatic offering would go over with my Continental seatmates).
∑ CNN reports that The Sheraton Chicago Hotel is offering to aid BlackBerry addicts when they check into the hotel by putting the communications and others like them under lock and key for guests who’re looking for a temporary withdrawal from their “CrackBerries.”
∑ And finally, for shoe lovers everywhere (this promotion in particular speaks to yours truly), The Ritz-Carlton, NYC, recently offered a “Shoes, Shoes, Shoes Package.” For $2,605 fashionistas get a one-night stay for two in a deluxe guestroom, a day of guided shopping with introductions to famed designers, lunch at a chi-chi restaurant and a fashion-themed treat from pastry chef Eric Hubert.

Maybe these ideas will spur some promotional brainstorming among your own staff. Keep in mind, the more unique or unusual the promotion, the better chance of garnering free media exposure for your hotel, too.

I’m not a big fan of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel in Nashville. The property is monstrous (2,881 rooms) and was built in five or six stages, giving it a disjointed feel. It’s often difficult to grasp where you are in the hotel in relation to where you need to be. I often find myself going in circles or inadvertently taking the longest possible route to my destination.

Nonetheless, the hotel does a gangbuster job of handling large conventions, such as Choice Hotels annual get-together, which I attended last month. And, since the last time I was there, the property has added a few simple innovations worth mentioning:

• At check-in, the desk clerk generates a customized map of the property that pinpoints the location of your guestroom and provides turn-by-turn directions to get there. And if you’re with a convention group, the map also indicates the location of the convention registration desk.

• The hotel charges a resort fee on top of its room rate, a practice I generally despise. Why not just add $10 more to the room rate and avoid the animosity? And since most guests are attending a meeting, room charges are often reimbursed by an employer or written-off as a business expense.

At Opryland, however, the guest gets quite a bit for his or her fee and, best of all, the benefits are clearly spelled-out on the room key sleeve. The menu includes standard items like free high-speed Internet access, local and toll-free calls, a daily newspaper, admission to the fitness center and transportation around the sprawling Opryland complex. What makes the fee worthwhile to me are the two bottles of water placed in guestrooms each day. While I’m not keen on resort fees, I get more incensed at hotels that charge $5 or $6 for a bottle of water in the room.

• At check-out, guests can use one of the kiosks at the concierge desk to check-in and print-out their airline boarding passes. This is quickly becoming a must-have amenity, and it works very well at the Gaylord.

I’m still not ecstatic when I need to go to the Nashville Opryland property, but the extra guest-friendly touches the hotel has added in recent years make the experience a little more tolerable.

Houston is trying to figure out how to collect taxes on third-party hotel bookings. City officials tell the Houston Chronicle that the city is losing up to $2 million annually in taxes linked to reservations made on sites like Travelocity and Expedia. The issue is whether online travel companies that buy what used to be called distressed inventory, then sell those rooms to consumers at a mark-up, should pay hotel-occupancy taxes (HOT) on the price difference.

Houston hotels remit 17 percent in HOT based on the price at which they sell rooms. As in other cities, these taxes go to retire debt or to keep the general fund operating. No doubt the city needs the money, so there’s a reason to pressure the third-party sites. Those sites, meanwhile, say the mark-up represents a service fee and so is not subject to HOT.

The issue is whether the city or the hotel companies, which already have a track record in right-sizing their relationship with online travel agencies, should wield the pressure. I favor the latter. The third-party sites are surely benefiting from this, but so are the hotels—and the people who book the bargain guestrooms. Lest we forget: the city benefits, too. If costly litigation against the third-party sites leads to a decrease in hotel business, everybody loses.

It seems not a month goes by when Starwood announces an industry-forward initiative—be it the W brand’s bold nonsmoking hotel proclamation, introduced this past winter, a new lobby scents program being rolled out to 600 properties or last year’s groovy aloft select service boutique concept.

This month was no exception—I logged on my computer yesterday to find yet another new concept from Starwood being heralded—the mysteriously named “Project ESW.”

The new upper upscale extended stay brand, inspired by Westin Hotels, will feature a “sophisticated, residential product designed to be a refreshing haven in a space rendered rote with look-alike brands and generic features,” claims the company. Instead of working with traditional hotel designers, Westin has partnered with Costas Kondylis, a Manhattan-based residential architect who has completed more than 45 major towers in New York and interior design firm AvroKO, considered innovators in creating smart space living. Starwood will debut the yet-to-be-named brand to hotel developers next week at the New York University International Hospitality Investment Conference.

According to Starwood’s CEO Steven Heyer, Starwood initially considered acquiring an existing extended stay brand, but ultimately decided to start from scratch. “The product in this segment is frankly pretty boring,” says Heyer.

While it’s too soon to say which of some of these initiatives will be hits or misses, I continue to be amazed by the company’s creativity, aggressiveness and timeliness. Cautious it’s not—and I can only imagine how fun it would be to sit in on a company brainstorming session.