14 Mar 2008 02:21:23 | Kathryn Tyler
Your customers asked for it, modern hospitality philosophy
required it and now you have one in your Hotel: A Business
Center. Your Guest now has access to the Internet to read and
write e-mails, surf the Web for the latest news and they can
work in Word, Power Point and Excel. For your Guest’s
convenience (and maybe according to company standards) you have
also added a printer, fax and copier. You are now ready for the
21st Century traveler. Or are you?
Philipsburg, Pa, Thursday, March 18, 2004
Satisfied with your latest implementation one day, on one of
your daily rounds, you notice that the Computer has a white
piece of paper stuck to the monitor. Curious, you walk up and
read: “Computer Out of Order”. Checking into it, you find out
that this is not the first time the computer has been down, and
furthermore, there have been a number of alarming complaints
from Guests:
“Computer froze in the middle of my work” “I walked up to check
my e-mail and suddenly looked at obscene pictures on the
computer screen” “I noticed stuff from one of your previous
Guests on the computer? Will my info remain on the computer
too?” “I think you have a virus on your computer because this
window kept popping up, saying,…” And the list goes on.
You also find out that your very dedicated manager spends (a
very valuable) hour each day trying to fix and clean the
computer. And, a couple of times, a computer technician had to
solve a problem for $80 / hour.
"It is a mistake to underestimate the process of making computer
and internet access available to your Guests ", states Ron
Koning, Vice President of SurferQuest, a supplier of Public
Internet Computers and Software. "The Hospitality industry is
forced to offer this amenity, so they put a computer in their
Business Center, without thinking a lot about it. Reality hits
when the complaints start piling up, managers get frustrated and
the maintenance cost doubles or triples the budget. And that is
just the visible problem."
"Running a Business Center Computer is a risk the Hotelier
really does not want to take without proper precautions," Mr.
Koning continues, "The amount of work involved to keep it up and
running is just part of the problem, the liability is the true
risk each Hotelier is subject to." The general opinion is that
as long as the Windows System, Virus scanner and Cleaning
software is updated, nothing bad can happen. However, these
tools do not prevent disk clutter, hacks, identity theft, new
viruses or objectionable content showing on your computer. One
by one, very serious matters when you consider them, with the
definite possibility of a law-suit. SurferQuest software is
developed to take a lot of these risks away. It prevents hacks,
disk-clutter, it erases all left-over user content, it is
foolproof and is even immune to viruses not yet invented. "And a
nice bonus is," continues Mr. Koning, "it reduces normal
maintenance by about 97%."
SurferQuest systems are not limited to Internet applications.
They also contain Microsoft applications and the Hotelier can
add additional software or hardware to the PC at any time (as
long as it is Windows XP compatible).
SurferQuest leaves it up to the Hotelier whether to charge for
usage or not. "Each system has the capability to accept Credit
Card payments," states Mr. Koning, "The advantage of using this
feature is that usage is regulated. Nobody can occupy the
computer too long, preventing other Guests from using it, unless
he pays for it of course".
SurferQuest ‘s clients include the US Military, The Westin on
Times Square, Starbucks Providence Biltmore, The Radisson in
Boston, Seven Springs Mountain Resort, Teton Mountain Resort and
all the Emerald Suites. "Full listing available on request"
SurferQuest HQ Philipsburg, PA SurferQuest Sales Portland, ME
SurferQuest Revenue Share Las Vegas, NV
For more information: www.surferquest.com Toll free
1-888-733-4365
About Author :
Kathryn Tyler is Business Woman of the Year 2003 of
Pennsylvania. A title ahe acquired after writing several
articles for Business Magazines.