Robin
07-23-2004, 12:32 AM
Would you be willing to pay a fee to check your luggage and get your boarding passes at your hotel?
Personally, I think this would be a great service at the WDW resorts. Instead of having to check your luggage and come back to your resort to claim it before heading for the airport, you could send it on ahead and just go to the airport when your done playing.
BAGS on a roll
Baggage Airline Guest Services is extending its reach beyond Orlando.
By Greg Groeller
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 22, 2004
Susan Leone checked her luggage and received a boarding pass for her recent flight out of Orlando International Airport -- all without setting foot on airport property.
Leone, a guest at the Orlando Marriott Downtown, had stopped at a kiosk just outside the hotel's main entrance, where an employee of Baggage Airline Guest Services took her luggage and printed her boarding pass.
That allowed Leone to attend her business meeting without the worry of getting stuck later in a long line at the airport's ticket counter and possibly missing her flight to Dallas.
"This is so much more convenient," Leone said. "It's really a hassle waiting around airports."
The downtown Marriott is one of four Orlando locations that offer the remote check-in service, developed by a local company, Baggage Airline Guest Services Inc., or "BAGS."
The Rosen Centre Hotel was the first to test the service, starting last summer; the neighboring Rosen Plaza Hotel followed in May. The Marriott and the Orange County Convention Center each added a kiosk last month, and the U.S. Army's Shades of Green resort at Walt Disney World is expected to join the system in a couple of months.
Meanwhile, the company is extending its reach beyond Orlando, owner Craig Mateer said.
Two Hilton hotels in Boston will begin offering the service next week, in time for the Democratic National Convention, which starts Monday, Mateer said. And BAGS is negotiating with several hotels in Jacksonville that want the system in time for next January's Super Bowl, he said.
"The idea is, 10 years from now, the kids will look at you and say, 'I can't believe that you used to carry your bags to the airport,' " Mateer said.
Travelers pay $10 for the convenience of checking their bags and getting their boarding passes ahead of time. Following the rules of most major airlines, BAGS accepts no more than two bags per person.
Each hotel has a secure room dedicated to holding the checked luggage. All BAGS employees are credentialed by the Transportation Security Administration and must submit to FBI background checks. And BAGS' trucks transport the luggage in locked compartments to the airport, where the luggage undergoes the same bomb-screening process as bags checked by passengers at airline ticket counters.
Charlie LeBlanc, vice president of operations for Air Security International, a Houston-based consulting firm, said he doesn't think the BAGS system poses a security risk, even if its use becomes more widespread.
"Really nothing is being bypassed in the security process, because once the baggage gets to the airport, it's going to be screened, anyway, and so is the individual traveler," he noted.
Airlines and airports like the service because it helps ease the crush of customers at ticket counters.
"The overall goal throughout our operation is to try to find as efficient a process as possible for checking bags at the airport," said Carolyn Fennell, an OIA spokeswoman.
Not all airlines will accept luggage checked through BAGS. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Song (Delta's low-fare carrier) currently use the system, though not all of them are available at every participating hotel. Mateer said several other carriers, including United Airlines, are expected to sign on soon.
Integrating BAGS' computer system with those of the major airlines is tricky, Mateer said, which is why he chose to roll out the service only in Orlando and on a limited basis during its first year.
Many of the guests at the three local participating hotels probably aren't even aware of BAGS, he said, because in some cases only a limited number are being informed, to keep the workload under control.
"We have really limited the ability of passengers to do this," Mateer said. "It's been more focused on working through the systems, allowing the technology to work, and getting the airlines and airports on board."
Mark Moravec, general manager of the downtown Marriott, said the hotel is notifying only members of Marriott's Platinum and Silver frequent-guest clubs. And those guests can check their bags for free during the first six months of the program, he said.
Another kiosk may be placed next door in the Expo Centre in October for the convenience of those using the small convention center, Moravec said.
BAGS is attractive to hotels because it could help replace the revenue from in-room telephone use, which has been declining steadily as cell phones have grown in popularity, he said.
"It's a wonderful tool for our sales department to lure conventions," Moravec said.
At the Marriott, customers' luggage is placed in a secure room accessible only by key card. Moravec said the TSA made the hotel reinforce the walls and ceilings with wood beams and chicken wire, even though they were made of concrete.
Travelers will be less concerned about security than they will the possibility of their bags getting lost or stolen, said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.
"It's a wonderful idea that is reasonably priced," Stempler said. "But there may be an underlying concern that people will have about who is going to be responsible if they have to file a claim? There's already some fingerpointing that goes on between the TSA and airlines in cases of lost or damaged luggage."
Mateer said there is little chance that BAGS will lose anyone's luggage.
"The TSA required us to meticulously know where every bag is," Mateer said. "We've got backup after backup to make sure that they [the airlines] get every bag."
Personally, I think this would be a great service at the WDW resorts. Instead of having to check your luggage and come back to your resort to claim it before heading for the airport, you could send it on ahead and just go to the airport when your done playing.
BAGS on a roll
Baggage Airline Guest Services is extending its reach beyond Orlando.
By Greg Groeller
Sentinel Staff Writer
July 22, 2004
Susan Leone checked her luggage and received a boarding pass for her recent flight out of Orlando International Airport -- all without setting foot on airport property.
Leone, a guest at the Orlando Marriott Downtown, had stopped at a kiosk just outside the hotel's main entrance, where an employee of Baggage Airline Guest Services took her luggage and printed her boarding pass.
That allowed Leone to attend her business meeting without the worry of getting stuck later in a long line at the airport's ticket counter and possibly missing her flight to Dallas.
"This is so much more convenient," Leone said. "It's really a hassle waiting around airports."
The downtown Marriott is one of four Orlando locations that offer the remote check-in service, developed by a local company, Baggage Airline Guest Services Inc., or "BAGS."
The Rosen Centre Hotel was the first to test the service, starting last summer; the neighboring Rosen Plaza Hotel followed in May. The Marriott and the Orange County Convention Center each added a kiosk last month, and the U.S. Army's Shades of Green resort at Walt Disney World is expected to join the system in a couple of months.
Meanwhile, the company is extending its reach beyond Orlando, owner Craig Mateer said.
Two Hilton hotels in Boston will begin offering the service next week, in time for the Democratic National Convention, which starts Monday, Mateer said. And BAGS is negotiating with several hotels in Jacksonville that want the system in time for next January's Super Bowl, he said.
"The idea is, 10 years from now, the kids will look at you and say, 'I can't believe that you used to carry your bags to the airport,' " Mateer said.
Travelers pay $10 for the convenience of checking their bags and getting their boarding passes ahead of time. Following the rules of most major airlines, BAGS accepts no more than two bags per person.
Each hotel has a secure room dedicated to holding the checked luggage. All BAGS employees are credentialed by the Transportation Security Administration and must submit to FBI background checks. And BAGS' trucks transport the luggage in locked compartments to the airport, where the luggage undergoes the same bomb-screening process as bags checked by passengers at airline ticket counters.
Charlie LeBlanc, vice president of operations for Air Security International, a Houston-based consulting firm, said he doesn't think the BAGS system poses a security risk, even if its use becomes more widespread.
"Really nothing is being bypassed in the security process, because once the baggage gets to the airport, it's going to be screened, anyway, and so is the individual traveler," he noted.
Airlines and airports like the service because it helps ease the crush of customers at ticket counters.
"The overall goal throughout our operation is to try to find as efficient a process as possible for checking bags at the airport," said Carolyn Fennell, an OIA spokeswoman.
Not all airlines will accept luggage checked through BAGS. Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, Continental Airlines and Song (Delta's low-fare carrier) currently use the system, though not all of them are available at every participating hotel. Mateer said several other carriers, including United Airlines, are expected to sign on soon.
Integrating BAGS' computer system with those of the major airlines is tricky, Mateer said, which is why he chose to roll out the service only in Orlando and on a limited basis during its first year.
Many of the guests at the three local participating hotels probably aren't even aware of BAGS, he said, because in some cases only a limited number are being informed, to keep the workload under control.
"We have really limited the ability of passengers to do this," Mateer said. "It's been more focused on working through the systems, allowing the technology to work, and getting the airlines and airports on board."
Mark Moravec, general manager of the downtown Marriott, said the hotel is notifying only members of Marriott's Platinum and Silver frequent-guest clubs. And those guests can check their bags for free during the first six months of the program, he said.
Another kiosk may be placed next door in the Expo Centre in October for the convenience of those using the small convention center, Moravec said.
BAGS is attractive to hotels because it could help replace the revenue from in-room telephone use, which has been declining steadily as cell phones have grown in popularity, he said.
"It's a wonderful tool for our sales department to lure conventions," Moravec said.
At the Marriott, customers' luggage is placed in a secure room accessible only by key card. Moravec said the TSA made the hotel reinforce the walls and ceilings with wood beams and chicken wire, even though they were made of concrete.
Travelers will be less concerned about security than they will the possibility of their bags getting lost or stolen, said David Stempler, president of the Air Travelers Association.
"It's a wonderful idea that is reasonably priced," Stempler said. "But there may be an underlying concern that people will have about who is going to be responsible if they have to file a claim? There's already some fingerpointing that goes on between the TSA and airlines in cases of lost or damaged luggage."
Mateer said there is little chance that BAGS will lose anyone's luggage.
"The TSA required us to meticulously know where every bag is," Mateer said. "We've got backup after backup to make sure that they [the airlines] get every bag."