Hotel CEOs talk about Wi-Fi and other tech issues
USA TODAY assembled five of the industry's top executives last month at the Americas Lodging Investment Summit in Los Angeles in the LA Live JW Marriott hotel for a discussion of the industry's latest developments. They were: Marriott International CEO J.W. "Bill" Marriott Jr.; InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) CEO Richard Solomons; Carlson CEO Hubert Joly; Choice Hotels CEO Steve Joyce; and Eric Danziger, CEO Wyndham Hotel Group.
The discussion ranged from hotel Internet fees to iPad apps, new lobbies and chainwide hotel renovations. The hour-long event was moderated by USA TODAY's Barbara De Lollis . The text has been edited for clarity and length.
USA TODAY: Internet access is a top amenity for travelers. With the iPad revolution, bandwidth use is growing at a faster pace. What are you doing in response?
Marriott: Well, we're working to try and get down to a few (Internet) suppliers, because in the past we had a bunch of suppliers, like 80 or 90. We have 3,700 hotels and everyone's hired their own supplier, so we're trying to narrow the number so we can increase bandwidth and improve the service. It's a huge problem. Everyone wants to talk in the room and they want to download everything they can. It's getting to be quite a challenge.

