OnLine by LodgeNet enables meeting groups to bring their computers into a Wingate Inn hotel meeting room or boardroom, plug them in, and connect to the Internet at up to 50 times faster than a standard modem dial-up, without installing additional software. 

The service supports Windows® and Macintosh® operating systems, as well as the UNIX® and Sun Microsystems® platforms often used by high-tech companies. OnLine by LodgeNet can facilitate product demonstrations, real time video training, Web-enabled conferencing, and many other group activities. At the end of the day, Wingate Inn guests can also enjoy OnLine by LodgeNet in Wingate�s guest rooms, using either their personal laptops or the in-room television. 

�We are excited to augment our industry-leading, guest room Internet access solutions with an equally high-quality service for the meeting rooms and boardrooms of Wingate Inn hotels nationwide,� says Scott C.  Petersen, president and CEO of LodgeNet. �We believe this partnership will elevate OnLine by LodgeNet to �first-choice� status with corporate meeting planners, while even more firmly establishing Wingate Inns as the premier lodging chain for business travelers and meeting groups.�

�Now that every open Wingate Inn hotel is fully wired for guest room, meeting room and boardroom high speed Internet access, hotel guests and people renting the meeting room and boardroom service will be even more productive,� says John Paul Nichols, president and CEO of Wingate Inns International, Inc. �Renters and guests save time as the connections are through T1 lines directly into the hotels, and they both get to utilize a service that�s easy to use. Within a short period of time, we expect to see a high number of organizations renting the meeting rooms and boardrooms to conduct electronic training and other business functions that previously would have required travel by numerous people.�

The move to meeting and boardroom high speed Internet access connections was to ensure that Wingate Inn hotels continued to meet the needs of business travelers and meeting planners. According to the Professional Convention Managers Association Newsletter, �Business travelers and meeting attendees are asking for high-speed connectivity from their hotel rooms. Even more, when making presentations in a meeting room and when selling their products at an exhibition, the need for speed is even more important. Hotels and meeting venues with high-speed connectivity are going to enjoy a dramatic competitive advantage. In the year 2000, high-speed will become a �must have� for meeting sites and guest rooms.� 

In January 1999, Wingate Inns and LodgeNet signed an agreement making LodgeNet the exclusive provider of full-property, high-speed Internet access to all Wingate Inns hotels. The agreement marked the first time in lodging industry history that a single provider was chosen to deliver Internet services to an entire hotel chain. 

LodgeNet Entertainment Corporation is a specialized communications company that serves more than 4,750 lodging properties and nearly 730,000 rooms in the United States and selected international markets. Through its open architecture b-LAN® technology, LodgeNet delivers on-demand movies, Nintendo® 64 video games, high-speed Internet access and many other interactive applications, as well as digital-quality basic and premium free-to-guest programming. LodgeNet is listed on Nasdaq and trades under the symbol LNET.

Wingate Inns International Inc. is an all-new construction hotel chain that opened its first franchised hotel in July 1996. Its focused service, upper mid-market franchised hotels feature sophisticated, consumer-based technology and comfortable, oversized rooms that were created in response to business travelers� needs. All Wingate Inn hotels are independently owned and operated under franchise agreements.