OK...everybody out there who contracts with Lodgenet for in room movies and entertainment raise their hand. Many of us. Those hotels with long term contracts with Lodgenet should read this Oct. 22, 1996 Denver Post article. The Stephen Keating article �TCI Satellite Invests in Movies-on-Demand Firm� explains how Lodgenet is going to go full throttle in to the residential apartment market with the system used by hotels. Will this move allow for continued strong servicing and new products for the lodging industry?

Remember this name - Ssangyong - . This Korean conglomerate is starting to make a name of itself in the Asian hotel business. The Oct. 22, 1996 Journal of Commerce briefly mentions Ssangyong as the developer of a big Vietnam hotel. Better yet...check out the Ssangyong web site. When you are there - hit Business Activity...then hit Leisure. All hotel marketing directors better look at it...

Is Biloxi over saturated with casino hotels? Primadonna Resorts thinks so as stated in their PR Newswire release of Oct. 22, 1996.

The right of hotel workers to choose union representation through a secret ballot election seems be a lost privilege. The ability of a local hotel union to gain bargaining status with a non-union hotel without a formal election is happening more and more. Unions are using unconventional strategies, are being confrontational with employers and now according to Tim Shorrock�s article in the Oct. 22, 1996 Journal of Commerce are going international. His article �AFL-CIO Extends Pressure to Japanese Corporations� describes how Local 11 (Los Angeles) of the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Union is taking on Kajima Corp. the Japanese owner of the New Otani Hotel.

Several quarterly reports have been released in the last two days: Lady Luck (midwest casinos)... MGM Grand Inc....Winners Entertainment (Mountaineer Racetrack and Gaming Resort in Chester, West Virginia...Riviera Holdings ( Riviera and Four Queens Hotel in Las Vegas...Coast Resorts (Barbary Coast in Las Vegas)...Bally Entertainment...all very good reading for those inclined to numbers.

All of us, it seems, have been to a McCormick Place convention at one time or another. Following is an interesting article clipped from the Chicago Tribune's William Gruber Column about the International Houswares Show. To those cities that would like to host it...well...it may be in Chicago for a while.

By William Gruber, Chicago Tribune Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

Century mark: The 100th International Housewares Show in Chicago will be the first trade exhibit to appear in the new South Building of McCormick Place in January.

The industry show has grown considerably since the first one was held in January 1939 in the Palmer House. At that time, 266 firms rented hotel rooms to show off their latest wares to about 5,000 visitors.

More than 58,000 people are expected to attend the 1997 show, Jan. 12- 15, including some 2,000 companies from around the world, the Rosemont-based National Housewares Manufacturers Association estimates.

It will use nearly 900,000 square feet, spreading through the upper level of the original East Building and two levels in the North Building as well as Level 3 in the new building addition. Last January's show covered 791,000 square feet in the East and North Buildings.

As in the past, the show won't be open to the general public.

"We're basing the attendance estimate on last year's actual figure of 58,197 because it's too early to know how many reservations will be made," a spokeswoman says. "The figure could be much higher."

The association, founded in Chicago in 1938, held two trade shows annually in the city for many years -- in January and July -- in places like the Stevens Hotel (now the Chicago Hilton and Towers), the International Amphitheatre and Navy Pier.

It was the first show in the old McCormick Place, which opened in 1961, and the first to reopen the new hall in 1971 following a fire that destroyed most of the old building in 1967 (on the eve of that year's housewares exhibit).

In 1990, the association moved the summer show to Atlanta, where it lasted only two years.

Below are two clips from the Philadelphia Inquirer's Technology Notes Column of Oct. 23, 1996. Both clips are internet related and hotel related.

The Philadelphia Inquirer Knight-Ridder/Tribune Business News

HILTON SEEKS A BOOST COMING FROM THE WEB: Hilton Hotels Corp. said it expects bookings made through its World Wide Web site to generate $1 million in revenue by year's end. The hotel and casino company began allowing guests to reserve rooms on its HiltonNet Web site as of July 24.

The move has added hundreds of bookings monthly, Hilton said. "We are particularly pleased with the results that HiltonNet has shown in its first two months," said Hilton senior vice president Robert Dirks.

Guests making Hilton reservations on the Web use a credit card to guarantee the room and receive a confirmation number. Still, Internet hotel bookings account for a small part of Hilton's business.

This week, Hilton reported hotel revenue of $214.9 million for its third quarter.

TRAVELERS TRAVEL IN CYBERSPACE, TOO: Travelers use the Internet more than average, with frequent travelers surfing the Net the most, according to a survey released last week.

Nearly half of frequent business travelers, 47 percent, use online services, and one-third of frequent leisure travelers -- those taking five or more trips a year -- log on to the Internet, according to the survey by the Travel Industry Association of America.

In general, 19 percent of adult travelers use online services, compared with 6 percent of the U.S. population overall, the survey reported.

People able to take frequent trips, either for business or pleasure, are often better-educated and more affluent, and are more likely to have computers at work and at home, said Shawn Flaherty, an association spokeswoman.

"Therefore, they are much more likely to be using their computer, and frequently using it as a source of information and research," she said in Alexandria, Va., where the trade group is holding its annual conference.

The survey was based on telephone interviews with 1,200 adults in the United States.

Later...

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