Upscale Hotels

At elegant hotels, luxury used to be all about sumptuous decor, topnotch service, and a certain je ne sais quoióthe posh address, the exclusivity, and the 300-count Egyptian cotton sheets. Now, itís just as likely to mean special amenities for guests who need to use their rooms as surrogate offices. 

Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, the Asian luxury chain, wins high marks for business centers that balance the traditional Asian sense of hospitality with the high-speed, high-drama business style of American road warriors. 

Other properties pamper guests by making luxury hotels feel more like homeóor like an exclusive club. W, the trendy new Starwood brand, refers to its lobbies as living rooms, and many properties, from the Burnham in Chicago to the Casablanca in New York to the Monaco in Denver, use their lobbies for nightly complimentary wine receptions for guests. At the lavish new Park Hyatt Chicago, ìWe try to run a hotel like a residence or a private club,î said General Manager Rick Segal. Arriving guests are greeted by name in the lobby, then escorted directly to their rooms without so much as a peek at the front desk.

At Hilton Hotels, marketing gurus continually design a range of interesting 
programs and services for business travelers. The Hilton BusinesSavers package bundles the room rate with free local phone calls, 10 pages of domestic outgoing faxes, one in-room movie and unlimited use of the health club (where available). Hilton TelesuiteÆ Network, in place in six major cities, lets guests conduct teleconferences in fully synchronized audio and video. Another step in the wired direction is the installation of high-speed digital Internet access systems at all U.S. Hiltons. 

Ritz-Carltonís new prototype room is a striking departure from chintz and hunting prints. The interior is minimalist, with a large round desk, three phones (one wireless), an oversized flat-screen TV with Internet access and a safe designed to accommodate two laptops. Thereís even an electrical outlet inside the safe so laptops can be recharged while theyíre being stored.

At Fifteen Beacon, a new 61-room hotel in Boston, youíre handed personalized calling cards exclaiming Fifteen Beacon on one side and your name, the line ìin residenceî and your private phone and fax numbers on the other. Stressed a bit, or exhausted from your trip? The minibar has energy bars, ginseng, vitamins, a high-protein drink and caffeinated peppermints. The hotel is so geared to the wired traveler that its restaurant has Internet hookups at the tables.

SwissÙtel Chicago has figured out a way to whisk guests from the airport to the hotel in styleóand help them save time at the check-in desk too. Guests are met at their arrival gates by livery drivers; when they arrive at the hotel, they will already have been ìpreregisteredî and can pick up the room keys from the bellman. 

Sheratonís airport hotels program was designed to help transatlantic business travelers recuperate from jet lag and road fatigue before they hit the ground running. Services range from Day Break Service day rooms to a Transit Survival Kit that includes a toothbrush, t-shirt, face cream, razor, deodorant, mouthwash, slippers, comb/brush and other items you probably donít want to unpack before a nap. The rates include complimentary transfers between the airport and hotel where required, reconfirmation of flights, in-room coffee and tea makers, luggage storage, express dry cleaning and 24-hour access to the business center. Day Break Service costs 50% of the rack rate. Sheraton operates airport hotels in Amsterdam, Brussels, Frankfurt, London, Luxembourg and Paris.