Give Guests the In-Room Tech They Demand

For a long time hotels provided to guests exciting experience of services and accommodations that they didn't have at home. But nowadays most travelers have adopted different technological advances appeared in recent years. Moreover, technology-savvy guests will not be surprised with in-room technological tools, on the contrary, they could be disappointed if they don't find any of those items or applications they got used to. In his article, Scott Watts, Corporate Director of Technology in PCH Hotels and Resorts, appeals to hoteliers and asks they to “give guests the in-room technology they demand”. He stresses that in most cases average traveler today has at home high definition flat panel or LCD TV, special packages of different TV channels and on-demand movies, gaming consoles, Internet access, they also use MP3 players, digital cameras, VoIP applications (Skype, Vonage). The author supposes that one of solutions that can make modern hotels guests become excited is "triple-play" that refers to convergence of voice, video, and data over a single network. Using this technology different guests' portals could be presented on TV or phone display or Internet default home page and enables travelers to customize different features during their stay (order room service, buy tickets, make restaurant reservations, etc.). It is very convenient for guests but at the same time “triple-play” could help hoteliers to increase their revenues. The author gives us an example of possibility to attract more customers by sending discount promotions to the guests' TV or phone displays in case if there are gaps in SPA center appointments. As future trends the author describes PVR (personal video recorder) capabilities and usage of "triple-play" foundation for PMS, CRM applications. The last one will enables to provide really unique guest experience: the system can memorize special guests' ID numbers and personal customizations associated with them, so that it can set temperature levels, language preferences, etc., when return guest check-in for the next time.

I find the author's opinion is very true about technology and its adoption by travelers. Nowadays hoteliers should provide appropriate service and conditions to travelers to use all the technological tools they got used to. For most guests technology is no more a luxury, it's everyday life, it's convenience. Converged networks became one of the crucial discussion topics for the hospitality industry in recent time. It is very interesting that author mentioned using of phones for these systems. For some perspective they could seem to be obsolete as almost all the travelers have cell phones or smart phones. But modern new decisions for in-room phone usage were found. Now they could be involved in interactive part of guest service and provide an opportunity to control different amenities (lights, TV, draperies). Also guests can use phone displays to offer different services like make an appointment in restaurant, SPA or golf center. One of the recent modern technologies is RFID capabilities built in the cell phone. They provide an opportunity for quick check-in / check-out and make it possible to use guests' cell phone or smart phone as a room key. So, technological development is going on and I think new amazing opportunities, solutions and their implementations in lodging industry are going to be found.

References:
Richardson N.M. (2008). Hotels Get Phone Savvy. Hospitality technology. May 2008. Retrieved from http://www.htmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=3E19674330734FF1BBDA3D67B50C82F1&tier=4&id=C8ABDDF2178B43168CF456E8BD45E785
Watts S. (2008). Give Guests the In-Room Tech They Demand. Hospitality technology. June 2008. Retrieved from http://www.htmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=&nm=&type=MultiPublishing&mod=PublishingTitles&mid=3E19674330734FF1BBDA3D67B50C82F1&tier=4&id=3952307BDBA74D25863583EEC361DFF9