Before I headed downstairs, I checked out the guest book to find out what I was in for. Looked like the services were 'pay as you use' and they mentioned it was 'cash or credit'. So I grabbed a $5 bill and headed downstairs since I only had to print out two items.
Once I entered the deserted biz services room, I went from computer to computer looking for the one station which took cash. I didn't find one. Strike 1. Back to the room for my credit card.
Returning with credit card in tow, I sat down at the computer that I had determined would be the one that I wanted since I wanted to print something that was on my laptop. So began my 20 minute odyssey to print materials for work tomorrow. 20 minutes later, I had spent roughly $36 and had gotten about 2/3 of what I really needed. Allow me to detail the usability nightmare which was this room (price gouging aside):
As I sat at the computer which would allow me to print from my laptop, I re-read the directions on the computer screen several times,not understanding how to get to the next step. I then noticed the conveniently placed credit card swipe mechanism. I swiped the card and the computer's desktop was displayed which was good, but now I had lost my directions on how to print from my laptop.
So I looked around the screen and noticed a window at the bottom right which informed me that I was being charged at $.64 a minute to figure out how to print. This made me act quicker to try to figure things out (I hate to be charged for nothing). 4 minutes later I had restarted my laptop and was trying to locate the printer on the network. The directions which were provided did not help with the Vista operating system as I could not complete the first 3 steps as they were written--thank goodness I knew a bit about networking printers otherwise I would not have been able to figure it out and been charged for the trouble!
My computer then needed to install the print driver so I could use the printer. So now it's 6 minutes into this ordeal and I have not yet printed anything but had been charged $3.60.
Once the printer was connected, I quickly printed the two documents that I had to print and clicked the 'End My Session' button to stop the $.64 minute charge. Then it was on to the copier.
This worked in an even more archaic way. There were 4 easy steps to get started, the first being 'Turn on the copier'. Seriously? Where? There was no diagram to tell you how to do this. And of course, I didn't read the first step since I immediately saw the credit card swipe area and assumed that, like the desktop computers in the room, the copier would be on. Not the case. So once again, I got charged for waiting for something to start up--this time the copier instead of my laptop connecting to the printer.
There was no help on how to use the copier interface (which was a touch screen) and once again, my previous job experience came in to play: I looked for the 'collate' option and a 'staple' option and was able to find both. I did have to do a test copy to make sure I had selected the right options as there was no way on the copier interface to double check that you had selected the right options.
So, 20 minutes later, I had spent roughly $30 but had made only 89 copies and had only spent 14 of those minutes actively engaged in printing.
Nice if you want to make tons of money off your biz travelers needing copies but I've used other biz centers where they don't nickel and dime you and was able to get out in under 20 minutes. I just hope this concept doesn't catch on with other hotels or if it does, they need to make sure to update their 'help' information.
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