When we looked at doing this in an airport, we guestimated (partly from ours
and friends experience) that 30 minutes up to 1 hour would be the norm
unless there were flight delays. We planned on selling a minimum of 30
minutes usage time with the customer option to take more at any stage.We
figured that this would give us the best continuous flow of users without
them feeling that they were being ripped off. We also planned on targeting
the games users, especially as most families have kids in tow who are a
nightmare to keep an eye on. What also surprised us was the number of 18/30
type groups who end up lounging in the larger open cafe areas whilst waiting
for flight calls.
With regards to laptop users; a server connected to a 24 port hub which in
turn has connector points strategically placed (fixed), either to the wall
or from a central point on the tables was our solution. Power points were
also incorporated into this setup.
Even though we were aware we could get business users, we placed them very
much of secondary importance with the arcade style predominant in our minds.
Regards
DaveS
> -----Original Message-----
> From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> [SMTP:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
> Sent: 30 January 2001 18:19
> To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
> Subject: RE: [cc] Cybercafes in airports
>
>
> Beth, David and Kireau,
>
> Thanks a lot for your help!
>
> I'm planning to open this cybercafe in the airport of a Latin American
> city
> with 1-1.5M inhabitants (I won't name it here 'cos my partners are afraid
> someone might steal our idea) and a high income per capita (close to
> European standards). We won't have to bother with Starbucks and things
> like
> that yet, but McDonald's is everywhere and I'm sure that they'll get some
> of
> our younger potential clients. Another good point: the airport is only 4-5
> miles away from downtown, so our clients might include people that are not
> travelling or waiting for someone, but actually went to the airport just
> to
> use the cybercafe (where it's going to be easier and cheaper to park than
> downtown).
>
> Back to the cafe: the flight information board is very important, of
> course!
> We also intend to have a price policy similar to easyEverything in order
> to
> attract clients out of peak hours. I'm pretty sure that a large TV with
> CNN/ESPN and a lounge atmosfere might also attract unwired passengers who
> just want to rest, have a coffee and wait for their flights. We're also
> trying to negotiate with airlines in order to give 15 or 30 minutes free
> for
> business class passengers ('cos the money they spend on food, beverage,
> magazines and additional services will probably pay for it) and discounts
> for coach passengers if a flight is delayed or something like that.
> Network
> connections will also be available if you bring your own laptop.
>
> My problem: How to estimate the number of terminals that I'll need? Is it
> reasonable to estimate the number of clients based on the number of
> passengers per day? What percentage should I use? What is the percentage
> of
> people flying with laptops? How much time should I consider as the average
> that a client will spend at the cafe? (the answer for this will probably
> be
> much lower than in a regular cybercafe) 1 hour?
>
> I'm asking these questions because I have to write a solid business plan
> in
> order to raise some capital. If any one of you have experience with
> airport
> cybercafes or have any idea about where I'd find those statistics that
> would
> be really great!
>
> Thanks a lot!!!
>
> Rodrigo.
>
>
>
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