On our way home from Idaho I noticed a sign along the freeway, an advertisement for a hotel in the next little town. It was a bit old, kind of faded like many of the billboards that are scattered along that lonely stretch of Wyoming desert, but it had a phrase on it that I found interesting. It said: "Free High Speed Internet."
A few years ago that advertisement would have read, "Cable TV." Which implied, of course, that some hotels didn't have cable TV and any hotel that did must be very up to date.
I can even remember when that beat up sign along the highway would have shouted "Color TV!", which, as everyone knew, was the superior way to view the fuzzy broadcast of the Cosby Show and the nightly news.
And, there was a time sometime between the two that the most desirable hotels served a "Continental Breakfast!" Hooray for stale bagels.
Today we just assume that a hotel is going to have access to 54.5 or more channels of identical garbage (in color) and that we can download our e-mail and web news and weather and whatever else we can't possibly live without from our room (in high speed) and that we can load up on watery juice and waffles at the breakfast bar in the morning. So here's the question: If yesterday the greatest thing that a hotel could advertise was its TV, and today we can't do without free food and our high speed connection to the world as we travel across this great country, then what will tomorrow's necessity be? What's that sign going to read in another ten years?
2 comments:
I don't know, but I'm guessing it will read something like this: "Free Chip Sinc" or "Sinc Service Here"
This will be when we can walk into the hotel and not even have to speak to anyone...imagine! All you'll have to do is carry your Trio or Blackberry or whatever (with the special "chip" inserted) in your pocket and the computers at the desk will automatically recognize you, asign you a room, the room number will show up on your phone, as you walk close to your room the door will automatically unlock, you can text requests using your phone, surf, shop, converse all from the comforts of your room, and when you leave, the computers automatically bill your bank account. I'm thinking they'll still be offering the watery juice and stale bagels - did you happen to o.d. on that stuff while returning home? :)
Ha ha! Sounds like you've got the future figured out Nin. You should be a fortune teller or something. Could you tell me about the next year please? ;)
Great post Rob!
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