Business Notes TELECOMMUNICATIONS

A Connecticut couple has discovered another way besides the lottery to convert numbers into dollars. Hank and Marie Oscar knew that there was something unusual about 800-243-2546, the toll-free number that AT&T had randomly assigned to their video-gear company, Oscarvision Systems. On the telephone dial, their number spells CHECK-IN, which they first realized eight years ago when a hotel called and asked for the rights to their number. But the cash offer was too tiny to bother with, so the Oscars held on to their digits even though the spelling had no connection with video.

But now, catchy 800 numbers have become highly coveted. The Holiday Inn and Hilton chains each have reservation numbers that spell their names. An official from the 143-hotel Hyatt chain, who was searching for numbers with significance, not long ago dialed CHECK-IN to see who had the listing. After some negotiations, Hyatt made the Oscars an offer they could not resist: $40,000 cash, $5,000 in credit toward hotel visits and $2,000 to print brochures with Oscarvision's new, more fitting number: PLAY-VHS.