financial interest in the rival Bermuda Financial Centre, a top Princess Hotels executive claimed this week.

Regional vice president Mr. Steven Barker also revealed that the hotel is improving its services to businessmen this winter, although he denied that the plans were connected with recent criticism of the property.

He said criticisms of the Princess as a businessmen's hotel have often come from those who have some interest in the building of a hotel at the Bermuda Financial Centre.

"You can make your own assumption as to whether those criticisms are based on fact or fiction, whether or not they have a biased opinion or ulterior motives,'' he said.

Recently, the Princess and other hotels frequented by visiting businessmen have been criticised for having inadequate telephone and fax services, no cable television and for lacking other services.

But Mr. Barker said many criticisms have not been valid. He said while the Princess did not have fax machines in every room, a business traveller who requested one could have one put in.

But he added there has never been a large demand for such services and most were guests happy with the Princess Club that caters business services to visiting businessmen.

The hotel has new services that it is adding all the time and a fresh batch are set to come on line in March. And right now, staff do everything from book golf tee-off times to providing clerical work.

The hotel also drew support from some local companies.

Mr. David Holmes, vice president of Bowring (Bermuda) Ltd., said he is connected with companies that have heavily used the Princess Club and the feedback has been positive.

"They like the reception they get from the staff there, especially when they are repeat guests and they are treated very much on a personal basis. A lot of them come in from the East Coast or the New York area.

"I've never had anyone complain about the business services Princess supplies. They have cable television and nice meeting rooms set up in the club area. My clients use the meeting rooms quite a bit.

"They like the convenience and the way they are treated at the Princess Club.'' Resident manager Mrs. Donna Jenkins suggested that some of the criticisms may be outdated, perhaps observed before significant improvements were made.

"It's hard to fight an old complaint that may not be relevant today,'' she said.

Mr. Barker said: "I read a complaint that the hotel should have CNN in the hotel rooms. We do. We have 48 channels in the Princess Hotel. We've had CNN probably for the last 20 years. The critics clearly haven't been at the hotel for some time.'' On the issue of fax machines, Mr. Barker said, "If the guest wishes to have a fax machine installed in their room, we do that. We don't have a fax machine in every room because there is no demand for that.

"If it was determined that guests wanted a fax in each room, we would do so.

But a lot of the hotels around the world that have tried that have experienced difficulties with the quality of faxes because of maintenance problems. Some of the hotels are actually taking them out.

"We have a staff at the Princess Club that is dedicated to servicing the needs of the business traveller. They send and receive faxes for them and deliver the faxes instantly to the client.'' The Princess Club is staffed from 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., after which faxes are transferred through the front desk, which is manned 24 hours a day.

Mr. Barker also pointed out: "This month we are installing a voice mail message system, which is intended to make sure that the guests get any message immediately available to them in any language, and in as much detail as the sender wishes to include in the message.

"It is something that we realised about a year ago that we required and it has just been a little slow in being installed.'' That service for all guests is scheduled for operation at the end of the month, but could be ready as early as next week.

Mrs. Jenkins said: "We do ongoing surveys of Princess Club guests for a series of things, rating the service, asking their preferred amenity for a return visit. If they like red wine, they'll have it in their room when they return.'' The hotel is putting in an additional meeting room and is improving the fitness centre. The Princess Lounge, which is part of the Princess Club, is being expanded to provide more space, which should be finished by March or April.

The Princess Lounge is used as a breakfast room for business guests and after expansion it could be easily converted for temporary use into an additional board room, complementing one on the seventh floor.

Mr. Barker also said that this winter, mini-bars will be installed, first in the 165 Princess Club rooms of the 447-room hotel. Speaker phones are being installed, in addition to regular telephones. The additional ones are to be placed on room desks will be accessible for people who wish to hook their computers or personal fax machines to telephone lines.

Last year safes were added to the Princess Club rooms. This year ironing boards and all new furniture are being put in, as workmen complete renovations to the rooms.

BUSY PLACE -- The reception area of Princess Club is busy with Ms Evelyn Carreiro and Ms Karen Lester-Smith providing a range of business services.