In Room Technology

Types of technology: Technology for entertainment: 1 2 Technology for entertainment: Technology for information: Technology for safety / security Technology for comfort Technology for work Technology for environmental responsibility. 3 8 4 7 5 6 9

What is technology? Let’s unpack the term: What do you say? Wikipedia: Technology is the usage and knowledge of tools, techniques, crafts, systems or methods of organisation in order to solve a problem or serve some purpose. In short the usage of tools to solve problems.

activity What technology do your guests look for when they arrive in their hotel room? What do they need? What would they like? And what could they do without?

What would they like? Apart from the actual sleeping part, what guests do in hotel rooms has changed a lot over the years. Leisure guests expect to be entertained and business guests expect to be able to conduct business. One statistic to consider is this: in a survey by Hotel Online, 65% of hotel guests said they would choose one hotel over another if it offered superior in-room technology.

Technology for entertainment : The very least a guest would expect is a good-quality television with a wide selection of free channels, including standard satellite or cable channels such as CNN or Sky News. DSTV is standard in South Africa and also provide a whole range of music channels Guests may also want a good stereo system to play their own CDs. Many guests have ipods these days and hotels often provide docking stations for the ipod. A minibar is also pretty standard these days.

Technology for Working: The vast majority of business travellers are looking for some sort of Internet access in their room, plugging their own laptop into a telephone socket or high-speed connection. They’ll also expect a phone with more than one line, especially if they have to use one to connect to the Internet. Other less obvious requirements will include good lighting, access to a printer and a fax, and plenty of space.

High-Speed Internet Access – what is it and do guests want it? Business guests will need to get onto the Internet while they’re at your hotel. Most of them, though, need that access to check their e-mails. Even if you’re just checking e-mails, high-speed access is noticeably more pleasant to use. From a technical point of view, it also means the user isn’t blocking up the phone system. The day-to-day problem with high speed access is that most hotels are only seeing a 4-5% take-up by guests. The main reason is the perceived value of paying a flat rate of, for example, R50 a night for 20 minutes of e-mailing. Hotels that offer the service free see about 20% of guests taking it up.

What about accessing the Internet through the TV - leisure guest? While business guests have specific work they need to complete using the Internet, leisure guests have different requirements. They probably just need to access Web-based e-mail such as Hotmail, or find out simple information on local attractions or restaurants, the latest weather forecasts, specific news, transport timetables etc. This sort of information is very general and just needs a quick check so, as most leisure guests either won’t be carrying laptops or won’t be bothered to go through the hassle of plugging in and dialling up, access through the TV is the best option for them.

What if a guest wants to print something out? At the moment, access to a printer is seen as a luxury, but that is rapidly changing. However, it’s obviously a very expensive proposal to put a printer in every room. You do still need to provide some kind of printing option in the hotel, often in the business centre. As soon as guests have to use their laptop to fax a document to themselves just so they can get a hard copy, they may be thinking twice about coming back to that hotel. One option is to have a few rooms with printers in them and give the guest an option to choose those rooms if they book far enough in advance.

Technology for Security and Comfort: Guests need to know their belongings are safe and secure in their room, so electronic door locks are standard, as are in-room safes that can be programmed with each guests own combination.

Technology for Comfort: Guests also want comfort, so good lighting, constant comfortable temperature and soundproofing may be more important than many other requirements.

Technology for Information: Interactive TV Channel, allows hoteliers to promote local attractions, in-house services and other hotel group properties to the guest. It uniquely offers interaction by the guest through on-screen reservations and requests, such as theatre ticket booking, a dinner reservation or beauty room treatment.

Wireless Digital Assistant The WDA is designed to be easy to use by the guest while giving them a sense of being provided advanced guestroom technology. The touch screen buttons provide the guest with an unparalleled level of control over a variety of guestroom devices.

What kind of minibar do I need? There’s no easy answer to this question, unfortunately. The standard fridge that relies on the honesty of your guests to tell you what they’ve had is risky. If they don’t tell you and you only find out when you go to restock it, you’re out of pocket. There are minibars that automatically detect items that have been removed and charges them directly to the guest’s bill. These are obviously much more efficient from the hotel’s point of view, but guests tend to be wary of being charged for items they remove and then change their mind and put back. In other words, the more expensive minibar might be used less. The compromise between these two is to have a door switch that will, at the very least, tell you if the minibar has been opened. This means you know to ask the guest if they’ve had anything on check-out. This will also speed up the daily restocking procedure as, obviously, if you know the minibar hasn’t been opened there’s no need to check if it needs restocking.

Is there anything else that can be added? Any final thoughts? Is there anything else that can be added?   Gadgets can be pretty fascinating things, and the temptation to spends loads of money on the top of the range kit can be hard to resist. You need to decide what is the right thing for you and your guests. What do they want? Will they actually use it? Most importantly, remember that the simplest things are often the most useful. For instance, if a lot business travellers use your hotel then, you should have a selection of power leads and chargers for the most common laptops and mobile phones.