Need language, culture help? Quality Internet access?

By Marv Balousek

• Places International, founded in 2002 by three former school language teachers, provides customized language training and cultural orientation for people planning to travel overseas.

Kathy Koritzinsky taught French at West High School for 28 years before starting the company with partners Pam Delfosse, who taught Japanese at West, and Claire Kotenbeutel, a certified teacher of Chinese, French and German.

Koritzinsky said the company works with business people interested in learning more about the culture and language of other countries, helps travelers restore their language ability and learn a new language, and hosts overseas groups that come to Madison.

She said Delfosse played host to a group of more than 30 Japanese teachers last fall and more recently a group of Japanese radiologists.

"The whole idea is to be able to personalize it to what the business or client wants," Koritzinsky said.

• Icon Interactive set up a Web service called Hotel Wireless that helps domestic travelers find hotels with the best quality Internet access.

Troy Janisch of DeForest said he set up hotelwireless.com after he had difficulty finding quality Internet access at hotels.

"There's so much information available to travelers that people are increasingly looking for something that meets their specific needs," he said.

Janisch said he gets the most reliable data about hotel Internet connections from the vendors who provide them, but hotels also can add information to his listings.

Janisch said he expects the listings to double every month during the first half of 2005.

"It didn't start out with the idea of making money," he said of the Web site. "It really started with the need to make that information available. Just covering expenses and providing a site of value is what we're looking at."

Neither company is a travel agency, and neither offers the traditional ticket booking and trip planning of other travel- related companies.

And they're not alone in starting travel niche businesses. For example, a Colorado company called Sports Express handles shipping of skis and other sports equipment that are difficult to bring aboard airplanes, and another company, Baby's Away, rents baby equipment for travelers.

mbalousek@madison.com

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