SPARKS/RENO, NEV. –
John Ascuaga’s Nugget has been a leader in convention business since
first opening a convention center in 1965. Now in 2004, John Ascuaga’s
Nugget is once again proving to be leader in the convention services
industry by becoming the first hotel in the Reno area to have
completely wireless high speed Internet access in both meeting rooms,
sleeping rooms, restaurants and the pool.
John Ascuaga’s
Nugget’s 110,000 square feet of convention space and 1,600 rooms will
have high speed wireless Internet access, with up to 20 megabytes of
bandwidth.
According to Pyramid
Research, based in Cambridge, Mass., the number of U.S. hotels
offering Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity) has exploded from 500 in 2002 to
1,000 in 2003. Overall, the number of Wi-Fi users is also rapidly
growing, from 12 million globally in 2003, to an estimated 707 million
by 2008.
Business travelers
and convention planners are finding that Wi-Fi enables them the
freedom of having several people accessing information at the same
time in the same location.
“Rather than being
tied to a phone line in their rooms, convention groups are able to
have Internet access in any of our convention rooms, allowing for all
of their participants to download presentations, photos and other
information needed for the convention,” Executive Director of Sales at
John Ascuaga’s Nugget, Vern Sohrt said.
Over 30 percent of
room bookings at John Ascuaga’s Nugget come directly from convention
business. Conventioneers and business travelers are increasingly using
their laptops to create mobile offices and Internet access is vital to
their ability to conduct business on the road.
“Having Wi-Fi
capabilities property wide will just be another benefit that business
travelers and conventions will find at John Ascuaga’s Nugget, thus
ensuring our position as an industry leader in our market,” Sohrt
said.
For travelers without
laptops, Internet Kiosks are now available in the front lobby of John
Ascuaga’s Nugget for checking email and browsing the Internet. John
Ascuaga’s Nugget partnered with Hotel Internet Services to bring its guests the latest in Wi-Fi technology and speed.
For more information
on Wi-Fi for your convention please call Vern Sohrt, executive
director of sales at 1-800-843-2427.
For more information
on Hotel Internet Services, please call Gary
Patrick, President, 1-866-265-7575.
