by
Terence Ronson, ISHC
April 29, 2013
On what can be described as
the eve of AHTEC@HOFEX 2013, it's
the perfect time to update our ever-popular DO's and DON'TS of Hotel
Technology.
Should you have something to
add to the list, please send it to us for our next update.
DO's
- Use digital signage instead of printed posters
- Put some free bottles of
water in the mini bar so that they are nice and cool
- Check all the peep holes
on guest room doors to make sure they are secure and the right way round
- Mount irons on wall
brackets in closets instead of placing them on the floor or shelves
- Clearly display
broadband charges, if your hotel has any and have a sign-on page if
your
Government so requires it
- Make it easy to switch
off all lights in the Guestroom from the bed - especially the bathroom
and
Vestibule lights
- Make it easy to plug in
a hairdryer, shaver, or electric toothbrush in the bathroom
- Make the lighting in the
bathroom bright enough for doing makeup - ask a Woman to check it
- Have an illuminated
make-up mirror in the bathroom
- Have universal power
sockets with USB power sockets easily available for guest-use in public
areas,
especially Lobby Lounges, Dining areas, Club Lounges and Poolside -
also have
international adaptors handy
- Have an emergency
torch/flashlight in the guest room
- Offer free boarding
pass printing in Business centers
- Provide Apple computers
in the business center, and not just Window's PC's
- Have an Apple Notebook
power adaptor available for a guest to borrow in case they accidentally
forget
theirs at home.
- Same applies to iPhone/iPod, Blackberries and other popular
devices.
- Use wireless mice at
the Front Desk
- Have a smartphone
compliant version of your hotel data file available for download on
your
website at the same time make sure your website is mobile compliant
- Work with your system
providers so that they produce eForms and not printed reports -
especially
Registration cards and Folios
- Make sure excess power
and data and power cables are neatly tied, or cut to the right length.
If that
is not possible, cover them somehow
- Have a simple but easy
to read digital clock in the bathroom
- Encourage staff to
bring laptops or Tablets to meetings and use them for note taking and
not use
paper pads
- Have easily accessible
universal power sockets with USB power sockets in Meeting rooms as more
and
more people bring tech with them and need power
- Have plenty of
Universal power sockets with USB power sockets by the Guestroom desk,
or if not
possible, place a small power bar in the desk drawer complete with
adaptor
- Have a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray
lending library if you have such a player in the Guestroom
- Have your Concierge
know where is the Apple Service Center and also other popular brands
like IBM,
DELL, Lenovo, Asus, Samsung, HTC and Blackberry
- Have a person or system
to monitor social networking sites for mentions about your hotel and
respond
appropriately and in a timely manner
- Have competent front
line staff on-property who can deal with Guest TECH queries - make sure
they
have the requisite social and interpersonal skills as well
- Monitor what is written
about your Hotel on Social networking sites like Trip Advisor
- Have easily accessible
empty power sockets at the LEFT and RIGHT side of the bed - for Guest
use only
- with USB power sockets not needing adaptors
- Realize that when you
buy technology - you need a support agreement as well - and this often
doubles
the Tech cost over 4-5 years
- Put a notice on your
HSIA sign-up screen that your government may block access to certain
websites
and internet services if they apply to you. Have your IT People know
how to
workaround this if the Guest asks
- Check your TV channel
reception from time to time and make sure it's nice and clear
- Make sure the
electronic door lock on the guest room door closes quickly when the
door shuts
- Check the speed, noise
and effectiveness of the air-con fan coil in the guest room
- Print your IM address
on your Business card like a Skype ID - maybe even use a QR code
- Put an internet
browsing station in the Staff Canteen for Staff to check email during
breaks
- Encourage your Guests
to also perform a virtual Check-in to such sites as Facebook and
Foursquare
when they physically Check-in to your establishment
- Get your technology
vendors to update you twice a year on their roadmap - maybe under NDA
- Add CCTV cameras inside
your Data Center - one that is directed to the server racks and the
other, to
the entrance door
- Use electronic locks on
your Server racks - not just metal keys
- Remember that guest's
trust their mobile phones to wake them up - more than they do your
wake-up call
service
- Perform regular
complete system and data backups and store them off-site
- Consider placing a
'dock extender' cable into the cable pack that you may be placing in
your rooms
so that a Guest can connect an iPad to the iPod/iPhone dock you are
providing
- Have iPhone 5 adaptors
on hand
- Have staff who do
in-room check-in, offer to help guests connect their computer to the
HSIA/Wi-Fi
as well as make them an Espresso should you have such a machine in the
room
- Allow guest's to tailor
make their fruit basket if you plan to give them one - not everyone
likes green
apples and pears - same goes for turndown amenity - not everyone wants
or can
eat chocolates or sweet items
- Offer ePostcards from
your website
- Have a shelf in the
toilet cubicle where guest's can place their mobile phone/Tablet and
maybe a
book
- Work in your own
guestroom from time to time and see how comfortable and practical it is
-
especially the height of the chair in relation to the desk
- Use a bio-metric reader
or PIN pad for staff entrance/egress that is linked to the Time and
Attendance/Payroll System
- Make sure the light
inside the wardrobe does switch off when the door is closed
- Consider [carefully]
about moving some of your IT Services to the Cloud - make sure you
fully
understand the small print on the SLA (Service Level Agreement) about
'uptime',
'data ownership' and 'migration' from property based systems - also
data
privacy and security issues
- Make sure your room
safe is bolted down to a floor or wall and cannot be easily removed
- Monitor the TV volume
in the guest room so that it can go down very low and not too high.
Some guests
like to leave the TV on all night but at a very low background volume
- Have a very low
nightlight in the bathroom/toilet
- Deploy the very best
cabling backbone you can
- Allow Guests of
Residential Conferences to use the same LOGIN ID and Password that they
use in
the Guestroom for access to the WI-FI in the Meeting Room - don't make
them pay
or Log-in twice
- Have air-conditioning
auto cut-off in the Guest room if balcony doors are left open
- Consider using
Motion/Presence [PIR] detectors rather than key cards to control energy
in-room
- Check from time to time
in-the-floor power sockets - the metal type which are supposed to lift
up when
the clip if flicked - most often they stick after a while having been
covered
with floor polish and dust
- Talk to your HSIA/Wi-Fi
provider about 'roaming agreements' and having pass-thru services to
such
membership services as Boingo and iPass
- Consider having a
secure place where Guests can deposit their valuables and gadgets at
the
poolside or beach if they want to take a dip in the pool or use the
sauna
- Have Wi-Fi at the
poolside and Beach
- Test your [magnetic]
key cards to see if they de-magnetize when placed next to a mobile
phone -
often they do and is a great inconvenience to the guest as well as an
operational chore
- Encourage Guest contact
staff to attach VCF files in emails
- Consider using QR codes
on your printed materials and special e-Coupon offers
- Put your Hotel onto
Skype and encourage that as a method of communication with Guests
- Recycle used laser
toner cartridges
- Think about installing
a 3G mobile hotspot in the Airport Limo so the Guest can use the
service
to/from the airport
- Have your IT team join
such organizations as HFTP and HTNG so that they keep up to date with
Hotel
Technology - you should also sponsor them as well as have them attend
various
Conferences and Exhibitions
- Consider carefully all
the implications of Cloud Computing to include: Loss of connection,
Data
Security and Data Privacy
- Looking into MDM -
Mobile Device Management if such devices are connected to your network
and/or
supplied by you
- Regularly check and
install Service Packs and software upgrades
DON'TS
- Use Walkie Talkies in
public areas without issuing staff with discreet ear pieces
- Deploy connectivity aux
or connectivity panels without having in-room cable kits to include
up-to-date
connectors such as use don iPhone 5
- Put a bedside clock that
makes a ticking sound
- Charge for local phone
calls unless you really have to
- Make it difficult to use
a mouse on the Guest Room desk by using one with a glass surface - put
a mouse
mat in the drawer
- Automatically do dynamic
currency conversion on credit card transactions - be sure to have the
customer
approve this in advance
- Charge exorbitant rates
for printing a couple of A4 sheets in the business center
- Issue replacement room
keys without first seeing a valid photo ID
- Allow staff to use thumb
drives in work computers
- Print reports -
circulate PDF versions only
- Send faxes when you can
send PDFs with emails
- Use worn out ribbons on
printers - especially Point of Sale printers in F&B outlets
- Assume your backup
power generator will auto-start if there is a mains power failure. Test
it
regularly
- Print folios - email
them
- Use paper registration
cards - use electronic ones
- Install both wired and
wireless internet in your Guest Rooms when doing a new installation.
Just
having Wi-Fi is acceptable by most people and will save you a lot of
money
- Assume all guests use
an iPod, iPhone or iPad - believe it or not, there are other successful
products in the marketplace
- Put "last
updated..." on your website if you don't do it frequently
- Put the number of
visitors to your website - no one really cares
- Put a chair at the desk
which is difficult to pull out or is uncomfortable to sit in - even if
it looks
nice
- Just limit guests to
connect two or three items to the Wi-Fi in the Guestroom - often guests
carry
many more devices, especially if a couple are staying and with kids
- Clutter the desk with
collaterals and printed materials - make them digital and multi-lingual
- e.g.
in Chinese and Russian
- Just believe that by
putting loads of technology into your hotel that the guest experience
will be
enhanced or that the guest will appreciate it
- Place a loudspeaker in
the bathroom unless it has a volume control and the sound quality is
good
- Just rely on the
technology to operate your business - it will fail and at the worst
possible
time. Make sure you have a contingency plan in place for ALL systems
and test
it periodically
- Change any
configuration on a guest's computer unless they ABSOLUTELY agree and
you have a
written record of the changes made
- Have multiple phones in
the Guest room unless your really need to
- Allow iPods, MP3
players or similar devices in the workplace to be connected to your
computers
- Print anything - only
have electronic versions of all your collaterals
- Make it complicated for
guests to use your technology - they may only stay one night and have
no time
to learn how to use all the gadgets and may not be as tech savvy as you
think
they are
- Overcharge for IDD
calls - see if you can connect your PBX to a VOIN (Voice over Internet)
service
to reduce the calling costs
- Lend guest's headsets
in the gym unless they have been pre-sterilized
- Allow social networking
connections on workplace computers unless it's for work
- Have water pipes inside
your computer room or data center
- Just have a single
cooling source for your Data Center - have a backup
- Have so many TV
channels that it's difficult for the guest to quickly access what they
really
want to watch and make sure when it's re-switched on, it goes back to
the last channel watched and only
re-sets upon check-out
- Put a CD/DVD/Blu-Ray
player in the Guest room unless there is already a disc inside for the
guest to
quickly listen to or watch
- Operate a 1-button Call
Center unless the staff who take the call are full trained to handle
ALL
queries and in various languages
- Put a 4-in-1
copier/scanner/printer/fax machine in the Guestroom with just 2 or 3
sheets of
paper inside for the guest to print on - include at least 20 sheets
- Use a cloud printing
service to the in-room printer you are providing - some guests are
bound by
company confidentiality policies not to send data outside of their
network and
so cannot use such services, even if they are hosted by a reputable
company -
just add a USB cable
- Have electronic
curtains/drapes unless they can be opened/closed from the bed as well
as via a
simple wall switch that the guest is aware of
- Put a hairdryer in the
bathroom that is underpowered - and don't hide it - ask a Woman to
check it
before buying
- Put a reading lamp at
the bed which is so powerful and direct that it can burn your Guest's
forehead
- Adjust the temperature
in the Guestroom if the guest sets it at a certain level. Only reset it
upon
check-out.
- Use Flash on your
website unless you really have to - not all popular Smartphones or
Tablets can
handle Flash
- Only put a keycard
reader on one side of the elevator car if you have floor call buttons
on both
sides. And from time to time, check they both work
- Install an LCD TV in
such a away that the Guest cannot access the connectivity ports and by
doing
so, they can directly connect their own devices for playback
- Create an app for your
Hotel just for the sake of it - and all it does is make reservations.
Let it be
informative about your property and a guide to all the various services
and
amenities you provide. It will after all be your Shop window in the
palm of
someone's hand and directly reflect your brand values.
- Write "Data
Center" or "Computer Room" on the door of such a place - you are
inviting trouble. Better to write "Authorized access only"
- Use illegal software -
do a license audit from time to time
© Terence Ronson HFTP, HTNG, ISHC
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