Business travelers frustrated by slow dial-up Internet connections while on the road are driving demand for broadband in hotel rooms and the hospitality industry is beginning to acknowledge the frustration experienced by their business guests who increasingly rely on the Internet and are accustomed to high-speed connectivity in the office.

Businesspeople desire the same amenity while traveling and many hotels are eager to provide it to them in order to attract and retain customers and realize a new source of revenue. As a result, a new class of service provider is focusing on rolling out broadband to hotels by establishing mini points of presence (Mini-POPs) in the buildings.

Mini-POPs are smaller scale versions of the aggregation devices that sit in the telecom provider's central office. Service providers are targeting large chains first so that they can win the rights to wire hundreds of buildings per contract.

"With hotel chains struggling to differentiate themselves, broadband access will be a terrific benefit to the haves and an enormous detriment to the have nots," said In-Stat analyst Amy Helland.

As a result, many hotels are making an urgent push to roll out broadband. About 48 percent of hotels surveyed by In-Stat plan to implement broadband in the next 12 months. Fees for hotel room broadband service are likely to vary, with some chains using a per night charge, others charging by the minute and some employing a flat rate per stay.

Many hotels are also planning to deploy broadband in conference rooms. This will allow service providers to peddle value added services such as virtual private networking and e-commerce.

A recent study by In-Stat found that:

• 73 percent of hotels are considering high-speed Internet access for their guestrooms and an even higher majority  (82 percent) of hotels with over 60 percent business clientele are considering rolling out broadband to customers' rooms.

• 56 percent of hotels plan to wire at least half of their guestrooms; for the average-sized hotel, that's a minimum of 100 rooms.