Dot.comfort
They don't want help with their bags. They're more interested in a TV dinner than a proper meal. They'll trail in late at night. They're not interested if you haven't got high-speed Internet access. And they want toys in their room. Welcome to Silicon Valley, where catering for the dotcom community is a bit like being host to a party of teenagers - except these ones spend more.
Hospitality's slice of the action
As business booms in the corner of California that is home to the Internet, and where scores of millionaires are created daily, the hospitality industry is looking to cash in on some of the action. Two hotel chains that have moved into the area this year say the gap in the market is in lodging for the younger crowd, professionals who work long hours but have the money (or the company expenses) to put their heads down somewhere upmarket and a little different.
"People were begging for something like this," says Joel Costa, sales and marketing director of the $29m (£19.9m) W Suites in Newark, the first all-suite property to be opened by American boutique chain W Hotels. "They're so glad to see a hotel that has more to offer people than just a really bad bed and absolutely no fun."
Fun is certainly high on the list at W Suites, where the meeting space features board games, puzzles and Slinkies, and guests can talk shop on big velvet sofas. They can request the Sugar Rush, when staff will bring liquorice rolls and other sweets, along with an Etch-a-Sketch to play with.
But it's not fun at the expense of business. Each of the 174 suites has its own bar and microwave plus Internet access that the company claims is up to 50 times faster than a conventional modem. A second wireless Internet access system allows guests to work on their laptop computers while moving around the first floor and pool area.
W Suites' own investment in its technology is minimal; the company paid to wire the building, but the costs of the equipment are picked up by Lodgenet, which receives a majority of the daily rental fees - $9.95 (£6.84) per room per day. Lodgenet also paid for the wireless connections, and guests pay $175 (£120) each for a card that allows them to work freely on their laptop.
The five-storey property, which opened in July, is built on the site of a former salt-evaporation business. It is managed by W Hotels and owned by Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. Achieved room rates are in excess of $200 (£137) off a rack rate of $239-$339 (£164-£232) and average occupancy is just below the target at 50-60%.
As well as looking after hotel guests, most of whom stay for a week or two, W Suites is also building up business among local firms (computer giant Sun Microsystems is a neighbour). Many are starting to use the hotel and its W Café for parties, business lunches and dinners, attracting an average food and drink spend of $25 (£17) per person.
Chasing the same market is Hotel Avante, which is situated a few miles away in Mountain View. The hotel is owned by San Francisco-based hotel firm Joie de Vivre, renowned in California for its collection of hotels inspired by the style and readership profiles of magazines.
Land is expensive in Silicon Valley, and hard to come by in the main cities such as Palo Alto and San Jose, so, like W Suites, Joie de Vivre opted to open in the suburbs. Its 91-room former motel, bought as part of a $23.2m (£15.9m) package from the privately owned Ambassador Business Inns, reopened as the Avante in July.
Following a $1.8m (£1.24m) refurbishment, it is "designed to feel and function like the apartment of a creative thinker", says the hotel's director of sales, Brandi Busk. Bedroom furniture is on wheels and can be moved around. Nightstands have a recessed "ideas pad" for middle-of-the-night brainstorms. Desk drawers hold office supplies and toys. The company is also testing out a new service provided by a "Joy of Life" director, who takes care of VIP and return guests.
In the three months the hotel has been open, the return rate of guests has already reached 40%-45%, and occupancy rates of 100% are being achieved from Sundays to Thursdays, says Busk.
But weekend business is slow. Silicon Valley is a working place, and guests tend to check out on Thursdays. In the words of W Suites' Costa: "On Fridays and Saturdays you can shoot a cannon through a hotel and not touch anybody."
It's a different story in the town centres, however. Barbara Gross has been general manager at the 62-bedroom Garden Court hotel in Palo Alto for 15 years. In the past five to seven years, she has seen new business not only from the Internet and electronics industries and the financial firms and attorneys moving to town, but also from tourists.
"The nearby Stanford Shopping Centre has become an international destination," says Gross. "It's very normal to be at the shopping centre or in downtown Palo Alto and hear a variety of different languages."
Gross says occupancy rates are "well above 90%", compared with rates around 80% a few years ago, and weekend business comes from social events and visitors. Business guests are spending more, but their travel plans are increasingly last-minute, says Gross. "The one thing I'm finding that's different over the past 12 months is how quickly people's plans change. People used to book meetings seven or 14 days in advance [so they could get cheaper air fares]. Now it's not worth it to them to put things off."
Both Costa and Busk describe business guests in Silicon Valley as no-fuss. "They're hardcore travellers with one bag and a laptop," says Costa. "We don't do a bellman service because it's just not expected, although we'll provide it on request."
It seems time is the main obstacle in the land of dotcom. People work long hours - one group of guests at the Avante works 20-hour days and gets just three or four hours' sleep - and food can be an afterthought.
The Garden Court has an arrangement with an Italian restaurant, Il Fornaio, that occupies the same building and provides hotel guests with 24-hour room service. W Suites offers round-the-clock microwaveable TV dinners for guests. "People often come in at 10 or 11 at night and they want something to eat but don't want to sit in a restaurant," says Costa.
When you're as busy as this, there's only one other option - to get up earlier. Jamis MacNiven is the owner of Buck's, a 110-seat steakhouse in Redwood City that has become known as the place where many big business deals are done - most of them in the early hours. Buck's serves 200 to 250 breakfasts a day including weekends, and average spend is about $10 (£6.85) per person.
"In Los Angeles it's a lunch scene, in New York it's dinner, here the phenomenon is breakfast," says MacNiven, who believes venture capitalists who spend most of their lives listening to pitches for new business ideas want to avoid office meetings. "People are here at 7am, back in the office by 8.10am and they've already got a meeting out of the way."
As the techie boom continues in Silicon Valley, so does the drive to provide accommodation. Existing hotels are adding rooms and upgrading, particularly their Internet links, and new brands are continuing to grow. W Hotels plans a 240-bedroom newbuild hotel in San Mateo, to open in 2003, and Joie de Vivre will open the 205-bedroom Wild Palms in Sunnyvale early next year following a $4m (£2.7m) refurbishment, complete with outside "office cabanas" where guests can work by the pool.
Next week: on-line bookings in the USA
