Over 60% of hotel guests want iPads available from front desk

Hotels which are making the iPad available to borrow or rent from the front desk, or even including one in up-scale rooms are on the right track to win their guests' hearts and on-going loyalty.

That's the take-out from a poll conducted by USA Today, which asked readers which electronic device they'd most like to be offered by hotels.

"These gadgets would come in handy if we forgot ours at home or it got lost or damaged during the plane ride" suggested USA Today Hotel Check-in columnist Barbara De Lollis. "It also could give us the chance to test a product we've been considering purchasing."

The iPad won by a landslide, with 61% of guests saying they'd love the option to get their hands on Apple's touchscreen tablet.

Next most popular was the pocket-sized Flip HD video camera – undoubtedly more a treat for holidaymakers rather than business travellers, although only 14% of readers felt this was something they'd want on offer.

One in ten felt a dedicated ebook reader such as Amazon's Kindle or the Kobo would be good for guests, and we'd have to agree. If the device was loaded up with a selection of the latest books as well as daily newspapers this could certainly be a hit and let many people get an extended test-drive of an ebook reader.

The Apple TV was a surprising entry, at 11%. Given that this can only stream movies or TV shows downloaded from Apple's iTunes site onto an HD TV set, you'd have to use the Apple TV box to sign into your iTunes account and buy the content yourself. But maybe that's still better than paying high in-room prices for what's often a selection of old or second-rate content.

Rounding up the poll, 2% of USA Today readers felt that renting a smartphone would be a good idea, and only 1% put an iPod on the list.

David Flynn

David Flynn is the Editor-in-Chief of Executive Traveller and a bit of a travel tragic with a weakness for good coffee, shopping and lychee martinis.