Virtual office for the business traveller

Citation

(2000), "Virtual office for the business traveller", Facilities, Vol. 18 No. 7/8. https://doi.org/10.1108/f.2000.06918gab.006

Virtual office for the business traveller

Virtual office for the business traveller

Keywords: Business travel, Hotels, Communication technology

Business travellers staying at the Jarvis International, Watford, can now enjoy a new range of products that offer a seamless switch between their office and the hotel. The new initiative is the result of a two-year project and a joint investment of £1.5 million between Jarvis Hotels Plc and BT, resulting in a new product line called Showcase.

Interior fitting out specialist, TFL International Limited, has incorporated the new Showcase brand of products into its designs both in the bedrooms and business lounge.

Each of the 16 Showcase products was developed following extensive customer research, undertaken by Jarvis Hotels, to find out how people work away from the office and what business facilities they would like to be available in hotels.

The Showcase bedrooms include high-speed access to the Internet, direct access to the customer's own office based computer and a hands-free speaker phone with ring-back and call diversion. Advanced TVs facilitate on-demand videos, PlayStation, room service and Internet access; the same TV also offers traffic information for rail, planes and cars. The surrounding room design played an important part in communicating the range of products on offer to the customers. A glass-topped drawer on the desk alerts guests to the keyboard and games console beneath.

The state-of-the-art Showcase Business Lounge is installed with screen phones that enable guests to call, send and receive e-mail. Plasma information screens display current news and financial information. All usual office equipment is incorporated such as photocopiers, scanners, printers and PCs. The hotel lobby houses multi-media payphones allowing a further route of access to the Internet and e-mail.

The Showcase brand represents a partnership between several blue chip companies combining leading edge technology to provide the Jarvis International Hotel, Watford, with a product that has the potential to be rolled out to other major Jarvis hotels in the next 18 months.

Bradley Cox, Chairman of TFL International, says: "Hotel guests are becoming far more demanding in their desire for all-encompassing accommodation. Along with style and comfort guests are seeking more sophisticated video entertainment and fast IT services with access to the Internet. The majority of hotel bedroom furniture TFL is now producing is designed to accommodate the latest IT technology."

For further information please contact: Amanda Robertson, AR-PR. Tel: +44 (0) 1732 356 291 or Bradley Cox, Chairman, TFL International Limited. Tel: +44 (0) 207 724 3391.