Tribeca Grand Hotel supplies Apple goodies

I found this at Macminute today. The Tribeca Grand Hotel is now offering what it's calling iSuites.  If the placement of the letter "i" didn't tip you off, it's a package that includes a lot of Apple goodies with your room, including a maxed-out Powermac G5, an iSight camera, an iPod with a BOSE Sound Dock and more. A lot more.

While this is the first time I've heard of a hotel offering such Apple branded extravagance, it's not the first time I've seen a hotel lend iPods to guests. While I assume most guests will use their loaner 'Pods for music, the practice makes me think of the iPod as a tool for the service industry. I imagine that hotels could load an audio track on each 'Pod that explains the hotels services or offers information that an out of town guest might be interested in, like business hours of tourist destinations, driving directions, locations of the nearest ATM's, Chinese restaurants (I don't know about you, but I have to find a Chinese restaurant if I'm spending any serious time in a new town), or even paid advertising from local busineses.

The iPod's continued infiltration into more diverse aspects of our lives amazes me.  I remember when it was first introduced with much ballyhoo, I thought, "An Mp3 player? All this for an Mp3 player?!?" I'm so glad to have been wrong.