Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SUNDAY, April 8, 1990 TAG: 9004080316
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: C-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: The Washington Post
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A number of time-saving innovations have appeared in the travel industry. Being used only sporadically around the country - so you may not have encountered them yet - these innovations ease the hassle of some frustrating chores.
\ Leaving a message: Nothing is more frustrating than standing at a pay phone, trying to reach a business associate or family member, and getting a busy signal or no answer. Not everyone has an answering machine and if there's a plane to catch or meeting to attend, the information you needed to pass along may still be with you, and you alone, hours later.
Now, Dallas-based Intellicall Inc. has an automated voice-messaging service for pay phones that allows callers to leave a recorded message for later delivery. A computerized "operator" keeps making the call for you.
At more than 35,000 pay phones nationwide, the service works this way:
When the pay phone detects a "no answer" or busy signal, an operator tells the caller how to leave a message. By dialing 1, the caller can record a 30-second message. For a charge of no more than 50 cents, added automatically to the cost of the call, the voice messaging service will redial that telephone number every 15 minutes for up to four hours - and deliver the message once someone answers the phone.
Intellicall is the nation's leading private pay-phone manufacturer. Its messaging system has been installed at many 7-Eleven stores around the country, but not in Roanoke. It's in the Los Angeles and Wichita airports and the company says contracts are pending at several others.
\ Returning rental cars: Hertz has launched a self-service rental car return system and expects to have it in 30 airports that feature Hertz's Gold Club service by the end of the year. Similar to automatic teller machines at banks, the units have a video screen that guides the customer through the process of entering the vital statistics of the transaction - rental agreement number, odometer reading, fuel-gauge reading and gasoline purchases. The Hertz computer then calculates the rental charges - already charged to a credit card - and the self-service machine prints out a receipt. A copy of the completed rental agreement and an invoice is sent to the customer later.
The self-service return machines will be installed at or near the customer bus stop by the rental building. The entire process, from arrival to receipt, is supposed to take less than a minute, Hertz says.
The system is in use at LaGuardia in New York and should come soon to Washington, Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Atlanta.
\ Checking in: Thriftlodge, a new budget hotel chain getting started in Georgia and Texas, plans a drive-up check-in system with outdoor machines similar to the ATM where a credit card can be used to register, pay for the room and obtain a room key, bypassing the front desk.
by CNB