The Youngstown, Ohio-based company recently signed an agreement to install HSIA in a new 96-room AmeriHost Inn & Suites hotel in Columbus, Ohio. The property, a joint venture of Athens, Ohio-based SJB Management Inc. and Arlington Hospitality Inc. (NASDAQ: HOST), Arlington Heights, Ill., is scheduled to open in April 2003.

"It will be the first AmeriHost property, that Arlington Hospitality has an ownership position in, to get HSIA," says Jack Bortle, president, SJB Management Inc.
Bortle says that because of the type of business generated by nearby Rickenbacker International Airport, it will be necessary to offer HSIA as an amenity.

"There will be a lot of international customers staying at the hotel," he says. "Plus, most business travelers now expect HSIA like they expect a copy of �USA Today� or continental breakfast."

Leisure Hotels, Broadband Connect

Hutchinson, Kansas-based Leisure Hotels LLC has partnered with Broadband Hospitality to offer HSIA in three of its hotels in its home state. The hotels include the 75-room Hampton Inn in Manhattan, 65-room Holiday Inn Express in Hutchinson and the 65-room Holiday Inn Express in Garden City.  Negotiations to install HSIA in four additional Leisure Hotels properties are under way.

"We are very excited about our agreements with SJB, Arlington and Leisure Hotels," says Vince Lucci, president of Broadband Hospitality. "Because of the quality of equipment and customer service that we provide, we are confident that those installations will lead to even more business for us."

Broadband Hospitality also has inked an agreement to provide HSIA to the 65-room Holiday Inn Express in St. Clairsville, Ohio. The hotel will be the first in St. Clairsville to offer the service, says Bob Patel, president, Visvishal Inc., the company that owns the property.

"Especially in the past five or six months, our guests have been asking for it," Patel says. "For competitive reasons, I don�t want to lose any business clientele because we don�t have it."

Patel says he selected Broadband Hospitality to install HSIA because of the high level of service the company provided in the past. Broadband at one time installed the hotel�s telephone system. 

Significant growth expected 

Lucci says Broadband Hospitality now has 68 hotels installed throughout the United States¾up from 57 a month ago. Those hotels account for approximately 8,000 rooms.

"I think that at a minimum, we are going to be sitting at 25,000 rooms by this time next year," Lucci says. "We should be able to increase our customer base by 150 percent. We also want to open six new regional offices."

About Broadband Hospitality:

Founded in 1993, Broadband Hospitality�s mission is to help hotels leverage the full power of the Internet by providing complete, high-quality, high-performance Internet solutions.

In addition to providing HSIA solutions for guestrooms, business centers, kiosks and conference rooms, Broadband Hospitality offers print services (printing guest documents via the in-room Internet connection), e-commerce platforms for hotel chains, video on demand, videoconferencing and voice over IP.

Broadband Hospitality also offers a wide range of voice solutions, including: local service, 0+ operator service, 1+ long distance service and phone system sales and service. Because of its strategic partnerships with companies such as AT&T, Qwest and Mitel, Broadband Hospitality can offer its customers the best possible solution at the best possible price.

Broadband Hospitality is the preferred HSIA vendor of the Ohio Hotel & Lodging Assn. The company meets the brand standards for HSIA for Hilton Garden Inn hotels. For more information about Broadband Hospitality, go to www.broadbandhospitality.com or call Vince Lucci, president, at (330) 629-8848.