When I decided to attend HITEC 2001 in Orlando Florida, apart from the people networking aspect, there were two areas I was most interested in; the first being emerging (hi-tech) products, ones that would revolutionize processes and improve service to the guest. The second, seeing which companies had weathered the IT shake-out, and still be in businesses.

Spanning two and a half days and two halls at Orlando�s vast convention centre, generally the show was not disappointing. The halls were full of large, medium and small companies touting everything from enterprise wide solutions that would cater to organizations with thousands of properties, web based virtual reality tours of a property, and small vendors selling printed paper rolls for use with Point of Sale Systems. Attendees comprised purchasers, vendors without stands who were on the look out for what others were doing, people wanting to have a better understanding of the market, and networkers � people walking the isles and looking to switch jobs.

If you had a shopping list to fit out a new or even existing hotel, then HITEC was a one stop shop cornucopia. You could have subscribed to several ASP PMS system, and bought your energy management system complete with motion detectors that sense if the guest is in the room by pressing a secret button on the doorbell. You could have selected an in-room entertainment system complete with set-top box, high speed internet access and digital video on-demand, Bluetooth enabled door locks, wireless PDAs for check-in on the airport shuttle bus, video monitors for the bathroom, internet printing, newspaper on-demand systems, mobile phones, general information kiosks and biometric systems. 
 

One emerging trend at HITEC and in the US is DVoD, and is very much unlike the more traditional rack of VCRs/VCDs/LDs in the PABX room. DVoD (Digital Video on Demand) provides true VoD whereby the guest just like with their home VCR, can pause, fast forward, rewind, stop and resume a video to suit their schedule and not that of the service provider or hotel. The quality is perfect, and the choice extensive. All of the movies are held on a video server located on-property, and quickly downloaded to the guest�s set top box located close by the TV. Similarly, they are updated remotely with content being pushed

Newspaper  on-demand systems

These systems provide simultaneous high speed internet access either on-screen or by allowing a guest to hook in their laptop without fuss or configuration changes. One vendor told me that whilst it�s preferable to install these over a CAT5 Ethernet LAN, certain available technologies will allow them to run over your existing CAT3 copper telephone wires. Now that is very interesting because not only can you add a new range of services to the guest room, you can also reduce installation costs. I overheard a CIO from one of the 5-star US brands talking to a vendor, and he told them that when they upgrade to these types of systems, and they will do very soon, they will also replace the TVs in the rooms and use flat panels. Advantages of doing this include a better picture, smaller footprint, and they no longer need to place an expensive armoire in each of the rooms thereby saving money, space, and improving service. I personally stayed at four US hotels with such services which varied considerably, and although I found it very useful, I�m not a great fan of email on the TV, so I opted for the laptop link at the same time enjoying the system functionality � and unlike the human service in some of these establishment, they all worked!

While on the subject of music on demand, I was privileged to see a prototype of an in-room Jukebox system that has access to some 5,000 CDs held on a server within the hotel. A very neat and well engineered unit complete with built-in high quality stereo sound, sits on the table in a guest room and allows a guest to select and listen to their favorite or new tunes in the background, whilst relaxing or working away. Future developments could see the hotel even burning and selling the CD to the guest on-property. This could be seen as a neat way to service the guest, and see some badly needed incremental revenues. 
 

Virtual tours

I liked a couple of 3D mapping systems that were on show, whereby over the web, one could virtually walk round a property experiencing all the features it has to offer. One company �walked me through� a hotel from the entrance doors via the lobby up to my floor in the elevator and into my room. They also walked me through function rooms and public

From a hardware perspective, I was a tad disappointed at the lack of creativity. Only a handful of companies were using PDA�s, and only one company showed a Tablet PC with wireless internet access. SONY had an in-room IAD (internet access device), but when it came to imagination, I must admit that IBM stole the show. Although gimmicky, they had a few toys (I loathe that phrase but appropriate at this point) on show. They had a wearable computer complete with 1 GB Micro-drive and a monitor that covered one of your eyes. What use is that I hear you say?

Handheld computer

I attended several of the breakout sessions, and very quickly one could see that trends have started to emerge as to the way business is going to be conducted in the future. Firstly, we all know that the take up rate of in-room broadband is very low � in most cases 3-5% so people are holding off from installing. However, where hotels have offered these on a free-to-guest basis (bundling it into the room rate), the take up rate has been around 20%. Why is it not higher you may ask? Well, not everyone carries a network ready PC, some cannot connect back to their corporate systems due to firewalls or corporate policies, and some are just afraid to try it out. I expect this will change over the next 12 months and we will see this figure go to 50% or even higher. When it comes to wiring up these systems, DSL is the hands-down winner over COAX and Ethernet, mainly due to cost, time to install, and operational disruption. Wireless based on the 802.11b protocol is coming, but right now has physical limitations whereby the signal can be seriously attenuated by concrete and steel.

CRM (Customer Relation/Retention Management) was often discussed, and the need for it to be at the center of the hospitality universe. One needs the ability to store profile information about your guests and to effectively use it to target market and shape your business � in other words, capturing information, adding value, and turning it into knowledge. Do you know who your customer is? Do you know what they really want? Can you deliver what they want? What is the true value of your customers? 

Being able to deliver a customized experience was how one big US chain put it, and they demonstrated this concept through a video where the room-maid would hang frames containing gold LP�s, place a leopard skin bedspread on the bed and a teddy bear on the pillow all because Elvis was checking in. That particular session comprised a panel of CIO�s and VP�s or Marketing. It was heartwarming to see how these departments (at least in public) work together and how marketing drives many of the technology initiatives in a property and helps justify the budget expenditure. Maybe vendors should sell to Marketing Directors instead of Owners or GMs�..now there�s a though t.

Other (market driven) trends are for hotels to include business centre services into the room rate such as printing, photocopying as well as free local calls and maybe in-room movies. They have come to realize that these are services the road warrior looks for in their home away from home, and office away from office, but hates to be nickel and dimed and is loathed to pay for as extras. In fact, many companies don�t allow such charges to be billed back. So, instead of losing out, and at the same time provide a service, they increase the room rate by a few dollars (which is significant income over a year), and bundle these in. Not surprisingly, guest satisfaction increases, and so does customer retention and word of mouth advertising. This trend is perceived to spill over to the leisure traveler who in time to come, will also need to be �always-connected� either with friends, family, customers, prospects or their financial portfolio.

Cordless and two-line phones are also high on the list of things guests look for in the room along with ample and reachable power sockets, e-folios, a good desk and chair with proper lighting, electronic door locks, plus a small supply of stationery items like paper clips, stapler, sticky notes, pencil, ruler, eraser etc. In room fax/printers have gone off the radar scope.

I mentioned energy management systems and whilst I only saw one company with a system (strange�), as one of my fellow Consultants astutely espoused, when business is soft, you need to control costs even more, and what better way than through energy management. I guess this is very appropriate now in the US where they apply an energy surcharge, and two of the hotels I stayed in hit me for an extra US$3 a night. Well, in my case that may have been appropriate after all, I was a road warrior with three computers, a digital camera, two mobile phones, a PDA, MD player and an electric toothbrush all plugged in � often at the same time.

Many vendors complained of the slowdown, and although we know this is somewhat based on economic uncertainty, other factors come into play such as; lack of internal technology skills, customer level of web adoption, proprietary customer solutions, closed technology architecture, lack of technology standards and an unclear ROI.

I was also frustrated and yet at the same time not surprised how US centric the show is. One of the questions I would ask a vendor is �do you have a Chinese version?�. 99% replied no � but they would have Spanish very soon (being the second language in the US). If I followed that with a �when�, most would say, �well if we got an order�..�

See you in Chicago next year.

Terence Ronson [email protected]

Terence started his career as a Chef, and acquired his wealth of practical experience and knowledge whilst holding various management positions with Hilton International in Asia and at several prestigious establishments in the U.K. After developing a personal interest in computers and technology some twenty years ago, Terence has turned his attention on to this exciting and rapidly evolving aspect of the business, working with several prominent IT related companies in the hospitality industry, applying their products and services so as to streamline businesses, improve profitability, and the guest experience. Terence now runs his own business Pertlink Limited, which specializes in helping hospitality companies maximize the use of IT in the pursuit of improved customer service.