Hotel Technology

1
Hotel Technology

• Chapter 14

2

• History review
• A Look Back Hotel Guestroom Technology
  Between 1970 and 2000
• Heres the Exhibit on the next slide.

3
(No Transcript)
4

• Locking Systems
• Mechanical Locks used by hotels well beyond the
  first half of the 20th Century.
• Electronic Locking Systems (ELS) not hard wired
  depend on a long-life battery to be a practical
  installation.
• Key Cards the lock will not open unless the
  plastic card key is properly inserted.

5
TECHNOLOGY IN THE ROOM THE NEW GENERATION

• Biometric Locking Systems
• In 2006, IBM exhibited a biometric locking system
  that scanned the users iris.
• Arriving guests register their fingerprints or
  iris scans as part of registration process.
• Guests do not feel comfortable giving up
  sensitive information such as fingerprints and
  iris scans.

6

• Radio Frequency Identification (RFID)
• Another innovation undergoing tests. It relies on
  storing and remotely retrieving data using
  devices called RFID tags or transponders.
• A Radio Frequency Identification lock contains no
  open ports and no moving parts. Access is made by
  radio waves with the encrypted code carried on
  the tag, or key, or elsewhere, perhaps on a
  wristband.

7

• Energy Management and Climate Control Systems
• The lodging industry spends nearly 5 billion
  annually on energy
• Guests have the comfort of setting their own
  in-room temperatures and the hotels the anguish
  of controlling costs.
• Ceiling sensors electronically communicate the
  status of the room to the energy management
  system.

8

• Electronic Key Card Systems A wall-mounted unit
  at the entrance to the room controls all
  electrical and HVAC devices.
• Body-Motion Detection Systems A motion detection
  system requires in-room sensors, and in-hall
  sensors as well, since the installation should be
  extended beyond the guest rooms. When the ceiling
  sensor detects no motion, lights and HVAC
  equipment are shut down.

9

• Body-Heat Detection Systems Heat detection
  systems are similar to motion installations,
  except they work from the body heat generated by
  guests and pets.
• True Detection Systems A new energy
  management system has been developed by Smart
  Systems International. An added feature, an
  adaptive learning system, controls the amount of
  time needed to return the temperature to the
  guests set point once the room is reoccupied.

10

• Networked Fire Alarm System
• A good fire system connects smoke detectors to a
  central management system by means of a wireless
  network.
• Sensing smoke, the detector notified the closet
  receiving unit, which transmits the information
  to the central management system.

11

• Minibars
• Minibars changed over time as technology improved
  the degree of automation.
• The minibar is a good profit center for the
  hotel.
• There are 3 kinds of minibar
• Traditional (Nonautomated) Minibars
• Semiautomated Systems
• Automated (Microprocessor) Systems

12

• Inroom Safes
• Initially, most hotels charge for inroom safes.
• Safes reduce theft. Electronic locking systems
  battle external theft inroom safes reduce
  internal losses.
• Similar to the door lock, access to the safe
  progressed through several steps.
• Magnetic Stripe Cards
• Code-Based (Digital) Entry
• Biometric Safes

13
COMMUNICATION SYSTEMS

• A Brief History of Telephone Service
• Between the early 1980s and the late 1990s, the
  telephone department was a big contributor to the
  hotel industrys bottom line. Departmental income
  exceeded 2.5 of total hotel revenues.
• Both social change and innovation brought a rapid
  decline to inroom telephone use. Thats why
  revenues began falling as the 20th century ended.

14

• Internet Access
• Dial-Up Access The first generation speed is
  poor business travelers prefer dial-up access
  because of the heightened security.
• High Speed with Wired Access The speed varies
  between 1Mbps and 100 Mbps. To minimize the
  hotels liability, guests are asked to sign a
  liability waiver before using the equipment.
• High Speed with Wireless Access Guests transact
  much of their business in public settings, such
  as lobbies and meeting rooms less cost for
  installation than a wired one.

15

• Future of Hotel Telephones
• Voice-Over-Internet Protocol (VOIP) It routes
  voice conversation over the Internet or through
  any other IP-based network.
• VOIP telephones dont look much different than
  their analog cousins (see Exhibit 14-19), but
  they are a world apart. They are also the future
  of hotel telephony.

16

• Wake-Up Systems
• Manual Wake-Up Systems Guests call the telephone
  operator requesting a wake-up call. At the
  appropriate time, the call is made to the room.
• Semiautomatic Systems It is the system, not the
  operator, that makes the wake-up call.
• Fully Automated and Interactive TV Wake-Up
  Systems
• Guests push a wake-up button. A digital
  voice walks the user through the several simple
  steps (Automated).
• Guests set the wake-up call with the TV remote
  (Interactive).

17

• Voice Mail
• Voice mail enables a caller to leave a message
  for an absent guest.
• Voice mail is more common in full-service
  properties than in transient lodging such as
  motor hotels.
• Guests can leave messages as well as receive
  them. They can have messages forwarded to another
  room.

18
OTHER TECHNOLOGIES

• Inroom Entertainment Systems
• Todays generation of travelers expect rooms to
  have the same multimedia and entertainment
  choices that they use at home.
• Inroom entertainment is a fast growing revenue
  center.
• Visitors are willing to pay for movies,
  video-on-demand, inroom games and high-speed
  Internet access.

19

• At the Desk
• Technologys greatest impact has been at the
  desk.
• The property management system has quickened the
  speed of service reduced labor cost improved
  accuracy and modernized the look and flow of the
  lobby.
• The self-service kiosk that speeds the guest
  along simultaneously saves the hotel labor
  (between 15-20).

20

• Stages in Hotel Technology
• Control Panels Now, guest-room control panels
  are showing up in a few avant-garde hotels.
• Standardization From HITIS and Beyond
• The Hospitality Industry Technology Integration
  Standards (HITIS) The Open Travel Alliances
  (OTA) and The Hotel Technology Next Generation
  (HTNG) All these three organizations bring
  manufactures, suppliers, consultants, and
  end-users together.