October 17 |
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A Hotel Information Service Fit For a Queen
Source: The Times
When the Queen was touring Canada earlier this week, how did she keep up with British and Commonwealth news? Royal aides aside, one way was by reading printouts of newspapers from home and principal Commonwealth countries using a new hotel software set-up.
The system, created by Vancouver-based NewspaperDirect in conjunction with participating newspapers, allows hotels to download digital images of papers and reduce them to A3 printouts—which the Queen received when staying at the Fairmont Waterfront in Vancouver and the Royal York in Toronto.
Papers sent on the royal tour included The Times, the Daily Mirror, The Dominion Post (New Zealand) and The Times of India, according to Richard Miller, vice-president of sales and marketing at NewspaperDirect, which has been operating since December 1999.
The service, aimed at business travellers wanting to keep up with home news, has already been established at 45 hotels in places such as Beirut, Frankfurt, Rome, Hong Kong, San Francisco, Tokyo and Abu Dhabi. Hotel charges vary, with InterContinental offering papers at the international cover price, while others require additional payments.
"Some people want to see the news on TV and on the internet, but for others there is no substitute for reading it from a piece of paper," Miller says.
InterContinental is rolling out the service at its 140 worldwide hotels and resorts as a way of tempting business travellers away from rival chains—more than 100 already have the software.
A total of 140 papers are on offer including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, Le Monde, South China Morning Post and De Telegraaf. "We were delighted to send printouts to the Queen. We would like to set up a printout station in Buckingham Palace, if she is interested." Miller says.
A spokeswoman for Buckingham Palace says that the printouts were a "supplementary" source of news information for the Queen during her 12-day tour of Canada, which celebrated her fiftieth year on the throne and ended on Tuesday. She adds: "She has a press cuttings service which is faxed to her with updates of world events and anything to do with the Royal Family. She also has her office with her at all times."
Tom Chesshyre
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