STATE COLLEGE, Pa. -- In a world dominated by mobile phones, PDAs and laptop computers, today's travelers place significant value on high-tech hotel amenities such as wireless and high-speed Internet access.  To meet the demands of this new breed of travelers, hotels around the world are installing high-speed Internet access (HSIA) solutions that transform guest rooms into virtual on-the-road offices. 

Shaner Hotel Group, an owner of 23 hotels based in the Eastern United States, has taken this trend a step further.  Shaner signed a $3 million contract with AT&T to build a powerful next-generation network that links its 23 properties, sets the stage for a new concept in guest services and gives Shaner an edge in the highly competitive hospitality industry. 

Shaner's advanced capabilities spring from AT&T's network-based Internet Protocol Virtual Private Network (IP VPN) and Voice over IP (VoIP) service, which converts voice signals into packets of data that travel across the Internet.  The IP VPN and VoIP service use Shaner's HSIA system as a foundation to support voice, data and Internet services, effectively creating a single, converged networking platform.

The converged network eliminates the cost of maintaining multiple systems and, at the same time, lowers phone costs by routing calls via the Internet.  Now, Shaner pays a fixed monthly price for all data and phone services -- freeing the company to design and offer bundled packages of phone and Internet service to its guests. 

This capability gives Shaner properties a decided advantage over competing hotels that rely on traditional telephony and consequently must deal with fluctuating costs based on usage.  This volatility makes it difficult for these hotels to offer unlimited calls to their guests for a flat fee without presenting a significant risk to their business, which a high volume of usage-based calls could easily cause. 

"Hotels have traditionally relied on phone charges as a revenue stream, but this revenue stream has declined significantly as guests turn to less expensive alternatives such as cell phones," said J.B. Griffin, chief financial officer of Shaner.  "However, we have found that guests--especially business travelers--are incredibly apt to use bundled packages of Internet and phone service when they stay at hotels.

"AT&T's networking solution significantly lowers and, at the same time, adds predictability to the costs of our voice services. It opens the door to an incredible range of guest services," continued Griffin.

Shaner's hotels will use a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) network created by AT&T as an HSIA "umbrella" covering the entire hotel premises.  Hotel guests with wireless communication cards in their computers can simply power on their laptops anywhere in the hotel -- in meeting rooms, in the lounge, or even poolside -- and enjoy free high-speed Internet access.  Additionally, Shaner will equip many hotel guest rooms with wired HSIA, giving guests the highest level of flexibility.  As Shaner implements high-tech guest amenities and develops technology to advance its hotel management capabilities, the VoIP infrastructure offers a broad range of possibilities, including:

• Call Forwarding -- Guests could forward their home phone calls directly to their hotel rooms, forward room calls to cell phones, or set up conference calls on demand.
• One-touch Dialing -- Automatically program different room numbers into phones so that guests can call colleagues staying at the hotel with one-touch dialing. 
• Electronic Concierge -- Guests could use a single button to navigate a menu that interfaces with various hotel services, such as making reservations in the hotel restaurant, ordering toiletries or extra pillows from guest services, or alerting the parking attendant to bring the car from the garage. 
• Advanced Hotel Management -- Housekeeping staff could enter codes into room phones that interface directly with the computers at the front desk to show which rooms are available for occupancy, have a maintenance issue, etc.

Finally, Shaner's networking platform will integrate the 23 hotels with the corporate office in State College and support shared applications still under development, including human resource systems, accounting/financial systems and time clock functions.  Future applications may also include remote dial-up access and remote Wi-Fi access.  AT&T's fully managed IP VPN also frees up Shaner's staff to address more critical hospitality needs, reduces overall management expense and supports a broader range of applications over existing Internet connections.

AT&T's IP services are based on the company's global IP Multi-Protocol Label Switching (MPLS) network, which, in addition to extensive coverage throughout the U.S., reaches 125 key cities in 47 countries.   MPLS networks provide reliability, quality and security along with the flexibility of any-to-any data communication.  AT&T was an early adopter of MPLS, announcing its first MPLS-based service in January 1999.

AT&T is committed to offering customers flexibility and choice in VoIP services, and has proven that commitment by becoming the only VoIP service provider holding interoperability agreements with the five leading IP PBX vendors -- Alcatel, Avaya, Cisco, Nortel Networks and Siemens.  These agreements allow AT&T to easily deliver seamless internetworking for all IP-based business communications. 

About Shaner Hotel Group

Shaner Hotel Group is one of the most successful-owner and operator of hotels in the United States.  It was born of a combination of opportunistic growth and a genuine concern for people--guests and employees, alike.  The 20-year-old company was "officially" launched in 1983 when Lance Shaner and his brother, Fred, purchased their first franchise hotel.  Over the past twenty plus years, Shaner Hotel Group has owned and managed in excess of sixty different hotel properties.  With corporate headquarters located in State College, Pennsylvania, the company through a variety of business employees over 2000 employees with assets in 15 states presenting seven different hotel brands.

Hotels owned by Shaner include: Comfort Inn, Cromwell, Conn.; Hampton Inn, Andover, Mass.; Hampton Inn & Suites, State College, Pa.; Harbor Hotel & Marina, Newport, R.I.; Holiday Inn, Augusta, Ga.; Holiday Inn, Birmingham, Ala.; Holiday Inn, Dayton, Ohio; Holiday Inn, Muscatine, Iowa; Holiday Inn, Shreveport, La.; Holiday Inn, Statesville, N.C.; Holiday Inn Express, Charleston, Va.; Holiday Inn Express, State College, Pa.; Holiday Inn Express, Statesville, N.C.; Holiday Inn SunSpree, Jacksonville, Fla.; Marriott, Chattanooga, Tenn.; Marriott, Durham, N.C.; Marriott, Pittsburgh, Pa.; Marriott  Springhill Suites, State College, Pa.; Radisson, Paramus, N.J.; Radisson, Cromwell, Conn.; Renaissance Savery, Des Moines, Iowa; Residence Inn,  Edina, Minn.; Fairfield Inn & Suites, Jacksonville, Fla.