Hotel Technology
Chapter 14
History review
A Look Back: Hotel Guestroom Technology
Between 1970 and 2000
Here’s the Exhibit on the next slide.
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.
TECHNOLOGY IN THE ROOM:
THE NEW GENERATION
Biometric Locking Systems
– In 2006, IBM exhibited a biometric locking
system that scanned the user’s 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.
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.
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.
– 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 inhall 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.
– 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.
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.
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
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
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 industry’s bottom line. Departmental
income exceeded 2.5% of total hotel revenues.
– Both social change and innovation brought a
rapid decline to inroom telephone use. That’s
why revenues began falling as the 20th century
ended.
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 hotel’s 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.
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 don’t 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.
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).
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.
OTHER TECHNOLOGIES
Inroom Entertainment Systems
– Today’s 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, videoon-demand, inroom games and high-speed
Internet access.
At the Desk
– Technology’s 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%).
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.