Below this post is the one from last week. (Sumbitted in Sakai)
Brendan Berl
Hotels Magazine
A Charge from Element
August 21st, 2009 (Found under ‘September)
This is an unusually small article, but I couldn’t pass it up after seeing the topic name. The word ‘Element’ stood out immediately, as that is the hotel made by Starwood that we have chosen for our project. The article specifies a unique perc, the ability to charge your electric car at their newly implemented Docking Station.
It only specified one hotel in Lexington, Massachusett’s, but states that Starwood has partnered with a technology company to offer this amenity. Calling it an amenity seems to lump it in with fridges in every room, or a community pool, found at nearly hotel around the country. Maybe other hotels will pick up on it and build their own docking stations. All it requires is for the driver to swipe their ‘keyfob’, the piece of plastic attached to key chains that allows remote unlocking of the door or activating of the alarm.
Imagine a hotel that offered a pump to fuel your car. It would probably not be very popular because it would just smell like gas. But if you could remove the smell, and give it a modern design like Element’s; I wouldn’t be surprised to see it having a higher occupancy rate and a lower rack rate than any of its competitors.
However, there are a few things I’m still curious about. First off, and probably the most defining; how much will it cost? If it is any more than half of the cost to fill up a tank of gas, most consumers probably won’t find it beneficial to purchase an environmentally friendly vehicle. Second, how would you pay for it? It says you have to swipe your keyfob; would this access your checking account like a credit card? I would be kind of weary to carry around anything that might have wireless access to my checking account.
Hotels Magazine – Element Docking Station
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