It's called InRoom Connect -- a complete computer system with Internet connectivity, hotel services and extensive local information and entertainment offerings -- allowing travelers to leave their laptops at home without losing their connection to the office.

With InRoom Connect, guests have access to these online services in addition to Web-based news, weather, financial information, e-mail, music-on-demand and, eventually, video-on-demand. Guests also experience superior customer service as a result of the system's integration with the hotel's customer relationship management (CRM) tools, which allow hotels to personalize interactions with guests and increase their marketing effectiveness. For example, using InRoom Connect, hotels could pre-load guest preferences such as favorite room service orders and music selections to deliver personalized content and services upon check-in.

InRoom Connect is a complete computer system that allows hotels to "wow" their most frequent customers. Featuring a state-of-the-art PC with an attractive flat-screen monitor, the system allows guests to access hotel services and a high-speed Internet connection whether or not they have a laptop. For those travelers who might need their own computer to access proprietary software, InRoom Connect allows them to plug in their laptop and enjoy the same high-speed connection. The PC- and server-based system enables Unisys to continually add new features to the system, delivering additional services to guests and revenues to hotels. 

"Business travelers ask for e-mail and Internet access more than any other hotel room services," said Michael DiLeva, director of the Hospitality Practice, Unisys e-Business Services. "Unisys InRoom Connect not only offers these basic features, but integrates them as well into a complete in-room package that allows guests to access a variety of hotel and local services and also enhances the hotels' relationships with customers."

Enhancing Guest Relations

InRoom Connect allows hotels to establish or expand upon their brand by serving as the centerpiece of their loyalty offerings. Through its leading expertise in systems integration, Unisys can interface InRoom Connect with existing systems or provide a complete customer relationship management (CRM) system for hotels that currently do not have one. The result allows hotels to brand their properties, cross-promote among locations and build loyalty with frequent guests.

Unlike traditional systems, InRoom Connect's standard in-room PC solution and CRM offerings involve no up-front costs or capital expenditures for hotels. InRoom Connect provides the same type of flexibility as the software application service provider (ASP) model, where users pay for software as they use it instead of having to purchase it initially. With InRoom Connect's services offered to the hotel for a small daily fee per occupied installed room, hotels avoid potentially difficult capital commitments for in-room Internet equipment and CRM services. And with InRoom Connect serving as such a valued-added feature � effectively turning a standard room into a Web-equipped business - class room � hotels are easily able to earn a premium return on their investment in InRoom Connect by charging the guest a daily fee for the PC and CRM offering. 

"The Internet is a tremendous tool that can add strategic value within every link of a value or supply chain," said Barbara Babcock, president, Unisys e-Business Services. "Not only will travelers using InRoom Connect have access to services they demand, but they will also receive improved customer services from the hotels through the integrated CRM functions."

In addition, with advances in bandwidth expected to make high-speed Internet connectivity free in the near future, InRoom Connect allows hotels to build a complete value-added system that drives premium room rates to ensure that hotels can replace revenues once generated by long-distance access fees.
 

About Unisys

Unisys is an electronic business solutions company whose 36,000 employees help customers in 100 countries apply information technology to seize opportunities and overcome challenges of the Internet economy.  Unisys people integrate and deliver the solutions, services, platforms and network infrastructure required by business and government to transform their organizations for success in this new era.  The company offers a rich portfolio of Unisys e-@ction Solutions for electronic business based on its expertise in vertical industry solutions, network services, outsourcing, systems integration and multivendor support, coupled with enterprise-class server and related technologies.  The primary vertical markets Unisys serves worldwide include financial services, transportation, communications, publishing and commercial sectors, as well as the public sector, including federal government customers.  Unisys is headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Greater Philadelphia area.