Aug. 21--High-powered guests at the Hilton Scottsdale Resort can stay connected to home and office by plugging into high-speed Internet access from their rooms. 

At the Hilton Phoenix East/Mesa, they can do the same. 

The East Valley inns are on the cutting edge of a trend that will make cable Internet connection as common a hotel room amenity as little bottles of shampoo, according to a just-completed study by tech-industry consultants. 

But the direct connect systems have gotten mixed reviews so far from local hoteliers, as usage hasn't lived up to early hype by service providers. 

High-speed Internet access will be available in 1.5 million U.S. hotel rooms within the next five years, said Sandy Fitchet, a consultant for Washington, D.C.-based Technology Management Group, which specializes in the design of broadband communications services to hotels. Fitchet is co-author of a study on the subject with Executive Insight, a California-based research publisher. Hotels that already have the direct-connect service will have a short-term advantage over the competition while the rest of the hotels catch up, Fitchet said. "Dialing out of hotels is cumbersome," Fitchet said. "If it comes down to a choice of hotels and one has it and another doesn't, that could make the difference. If not today, hotels need to address this and have a plan. They can't stick their heads in the sand." 

Depending on a hotel's size and structure, the investment could add up to $100,000 or more for equipment and training, Fitchet said. But regardless of the cost, eventually all the hotels will have to ante up to keep corporate contracts, he said. 

While many local hotels, including the posh Phoenician Resort, have high-speed Internet access in meeting rooms, the feature isn't as common in guest rooms. At the Hilton in Mesa, which primarily attracts business travelers from the East Valley's high-tech corridor, the direct-to-the-Web connection is available in all guest rooms, and its use is growing daily, said general manager David Muth. 

Muth thinks the service, which his hotel installed a year ago for about $12,000, was well worth the bucks. Companies and individual business travelers calling about room reservations regularly ask if it's available, he said. Muth suspects that it has helped the hotel win a few coveted converts this year despite a business travel slowdown prompted by the staggering economy. 

In June, the Hilton in Scottsdale installed high-speed access in 140 of its 185 guest rooms, about the same ratio as the hotel's corporate vs. vacation business, said Karen Sullivan, marketing director. 

"People are catching on more and more and customers are asking for it, even leisure travelers who combine business with vacation," Sullivan said. "There are a lot of meeting planners who say they have to have it. They can't waste time on a data line." 

Muth compares the amenity to TV remote controls of a couple of decades ago. 

"People expect it," he said. "They have it in their homes, and it's become part of their lifestyle." 

Both Hiltons, like other East Valley hotels with the high-speed service, charge guests $9.95 for 24 hours of high-speed direct connect. But those hotels, like nearly every Valley hotel, also have two-line phones in guest rooms. A guest with an 800 or local phone-in number can plug in and dial from a laptop for the price of a local call if speed or continuous connections aren't an issue. And that makes the value of the high-speed connections debatable for some. 

At the Chaparral Suites Hotel in Scottsdale, general manager Tom Silverman said he's gotten a couple of bids from high-speed service providers and is weighing the costs and benefits. "We'd like to have it, and we're looking into it," Silverman said. "In talking to other hotels that have it, it's not as popular as they thought it would be. But it could grow." 

At Tempe Mission Palms Hotel, which installed high-speed access in about 100 guest rooms along with the meeting rooms, marketing director Chris Kenney said he believes the high-speed access someday "will be the norm in every hotel." 

"But the demand is not very large yet," Kenney said. "In many cases people are used to plugging into their phone line, and they're fine with that." Kenney is more impressed with the flexibility of other options for the stay-connected set. 

"There is a push more towards wireless connections, and that may be the long-term future," Kenney added. "That way people can move throughout the hotel with their laptops and stay connected." 

Muth, who isn't taking any chances in keeping a competitive edge, has that option covered too. His hotel is "wired for wireless connections in all the public areas," he said. 

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(c) 2001, The Tribune, Mesa, Ariz. Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.