Responding to customer demand for a higher in-room comfort level, more upscale and business hotels are outfitting armoires with compact disc players, videocassette re-corders and even digital videodisc players.

In some cases, hotels are supplying CDs for free, and in the case of Starwood's 12 W Hotels, guests can listen to a hotel signature CD with a medley of music choices.

While admitting the investment is driving up the cost of equipping rooms with this new technology, hospitality leaders said this is a must if they want to be competitive.

"We are making the living environment more complete," said Rob Delamater, vice president of creative services for Joie De Vivre Hospitality in San Francisco. "We know from our perspective that VCRs and CDs represent real value for guests."

This is the familiar story of trying to recreate the experience of being at home, according to Alan Benjamin, managing partner of Benjamin West, a purchasing company in Boulder, Colo.

"They are trying to get residents to feel this is their home away from home," he said. "Once you get past that middle market, they are trying to build their brand and be different."

Many boutique hotels, extended-stay facilities and timeshare properties are installing these devices. Benjamin is urging his clients to pay special attention to wiring and armoire shelf space when constructing new units.

"It is something we address in the design phase," he said. "We have to know where all this stuff is going to go and then make sure the electrical, cable and phone jacks are all in the right place. The next thing we want is to be able to move it around three or four places because the theory is it will eventually all be wireless."

Adding electronic items, including a clock radio and separate VCR and CD player can increase the price tag on a room an additional $200. What used to cost $350 to $400 a key, Benjamin said, will now cost $500. He recommends a combination television and VCR unit because of the difficulty of providing maintenance to either unit.

Delamater said CD players and VCRs add $60 to $120 to the cost of equipping a room, but given the long-term value and benefit they have for guests, it is a small price to pay. In the chain's new 80-room Moorpark Hotel in Silicon Valley where rooms start at $230, having a DVD and CD player in the room is a big plus for guests because there is not much evening entertainment immediately available.

"It is furthering and deepening the residential environment," Delamater said.

The boutique hotels started adding the additional high-tech items after noticing more of their guests were bringing their own CDs and CD players.

"Often the young professional and leisure traveler is traveling with music," Delamater said. "It is part of a younger lifestyle."

The hotel also offers a selection of music free of charge for its guests.

"We have a library of films and CDs our guests can check out for free," Delamater said.

About 600 of the hotel's 1,800 rooms have CD players and another 500 have either DVD or VCRs.

"It has definitely become a standard for us with even more value than a fax machine," Delamater said. "It's going to be a part of our future development."

Several new upscale Hilton Hotels on the West Coast are now making these items part of their environments, a spokesman said. Guests seem to appreciate these items, based on customer feedback. In the past two years, it's become more of a part of the guest experience at W Hotels.

The signature CD, which is a medley of jazz, instrumentals and rock and roll, features a variety of artists and is available for in-room use and can be purchased for $12.

Hotels are buying this new equipment from manufacturers such as Philips and Zenith or through the American Hotel Registry.

American of Martinsville is doing much more custom work to fit these additional electronic items in the armoires.

"A little more attention is being paid to wire management," said Wayne Morris, director of marketing. "I think there is a lot more interest on the electronic uses."

Most armoires can handle additional electronics, said Tim Ontrop, who is in charge of product development for Thomasville Furniture in Thomasville, N.C.

"We are keeping in touch with what is going on," Ontrop said. "Most pieces are made to handle a 27-inch television set and an additional piece of electronics."

On Command Corp. of Denver has a cut a deal with the Digital Music Network to begin servicing hotel clients with music through the television set. A choice of 600 CDs would be available in room at an average charge of $9.95 for two hours of playing time.

"We pride ourselves in bringing products and services that the hotel guest cannot receive at home, and we anticipate this service will be one of our most popular," said Jerome H. Kern, chairman and c.e.o. of On Command.

In addition to the music, which is selected by the TV remote, the service also offers a selection of on-screen visual images, such as beach, mountain and city scenes.

On Command said it will be phasing in its rollout this year to Adam's Mark Hotels & Resorts, Four Seasons, Hyatt, Inter-Continental, Marriott, Radisson, Ramada, Sheraton, Westin and Wyndham.