Hotel Chairs With Internet Access

Wyndham's new Smart Chair lets you connect and kick back. Is it enough to make you switch hotel loyalty?

At most hotels, it's all about the bed. At the Wyndham chain, it's all about the chair. Specifically, I'm talking about the Smart Chair--a new-millennium update of the easy chair.

With its rounded back, curved arms, and matching footstool, the Smart Chair has a slightly 1950s Father Knows Best thing going on. But here's the difference: The chair features a built-in power source for charging laptops or gadgets and an ethernet port for broadband Internet. The chair itself plugs into a power socket.

In early February, I stayed in theWyndham Garden Hotelin Toronto, which had just been converted from a Ramada Inn. While there, I had the opportunity to try out the Smart Chair. To see a video demo, go to my blogTraveler 2.0.

In addition to Toronto, the Smart Chair is currently in Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, El Paso, and Princeton, New Jersey Wyndham properties. Plans are to introduce the chair to all Wyndham Hotel and Wyndham Garden Hotel-branded properties by year end.

Each armrest on the Smart Chair has a pivoting table. The idea is that you kick back, put your laptop on one of the tables, plug in, and check e-mail or surf the Web. On the other armrest table, you could have a snack or bottle of water.

Michael Graves & Associates, the firm behind a line of high-style home accessories sold at Target, designed the Smart Chair. The company also designed other items in Wyndham rooms, including the ice bucket, coffee maker, and clock radio.

At first, the Smart Chair seemed gimmicky. And I have no doubt some travelers will refuse to see it as anything else. But before long, I found myself spending most of my waking hotel-room time in the chair. It's firm yet comfortable, and it makes the hotel room seem cozier. I like the pockets on either side, into which you can slip newspapers or magazines. The pivoting tables are a great idea, too. Why don't all easy chairs come with them?

I have three minor gripes, however.

When I positioned the two armrest tables together, they didn't form a level surface. Instead, one table was slightly higher than the other, which made it awkward to rest my laptop across both. This was the case with four different Smart Chairs I tried at the Toronto hotel. (A Wyndham spokesperson said the armrest tables are supposed to be level with one another.)

The Smart Chair doesn't encourage proper posture. If you have a repetitive strain injury, I don't recommend spending much time working on your laptop in this chair. However, my room (as do most Wyndham rooms) had aHerman Miller Mirra chair, which does offer ergonomic comfort.

The Smart Chair is covered with a fabric designed to resist stains and bacteria, the hotel chain says. That's perfectly understandable, but it feels a bit stiff.

In addition to the Smart Chair's ethernet port, my room had wireless Internet access. As is the case with many hotel Wi-Fi hot spots, signal strength can vary dramatically. In room 509, I couldn't get a decent wireless signal. Next door in room 511, however, I had no trouble going wireless. This is why it's always nice to have both wireless and ethernet options in a guest room--something not all hotels offer.