CyberHotel Network, developed by Singapore
company MediaManager Pte Ltd.,
will have a total of six hotels as members before this June and will
upgrade services to include network gaming and e-commerce by April.
Grand Hyatt Singapore has just joined
CyberHotel Network this March making it the third hotel in the country,
besides Le Meridien Changi and RiverView Singapore, to provide
MediaManager’s data broadcasting services for hotel guests.
These hotels have guest rooms furnished with Acer CyberTV, a VCR-like
set-top box mounted below the TV set, to provide guests with access to news
from wired services such as CNN and Bloomberg, tourist information on
local attractions, shopping and dining, as well as hotel information and
services at no extra cost.
The interactive nature of this service allows guests to order room service
and send requests or comments all through the TV set.
In addition, hotel guests have the choice to access the Internet and e-mail
at a nominal fee for a day of unlimited use. They can also receive and send
faxes in the privacy of their own rooms without going to the business
center.
“CyberHotel Network is meant to be an information communications center,”
said Anna Koh, business development manager of MediaManager, an
Internet-centric company that focuses on data broadcasting in hotels,
homes, and other points of data distribution.
She also said that in phase two of the development of CyberHotel Network
this coming April, a hotel guest can play network games with guests of
other rooms within the same hotel, and make transactions online for movie
tickets or goods.
However, the system does not have broadband capabilities nor is it
connected to Singapore ONE.
“In houses, you get heavy subsidies from the government. [But] hotels will
suffer half a million dollar setback to install broadband capabilities,”
Koh said.
She also said that before June this year, three other hotels will jump on
board, details of which she declined to furnish.