Dubai, March 2015: Headquartered in Dubai, INTEREL, the world’s fastest growing manufacturer of integrated room technologies in the luxury hospitality industry, took first place at the 2015 TechOvation Awards held at the Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) North American Conference in San Antonio, Texas.

The Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) TechOvation Award was created to recognize and reward technology innovation in the hospitality industry. The awards, which had a staggering 18 entries this year, saw contestants present their innovation before a live audience of registered conference attendees, investors and a distinguished panel of judges, comprising top hotel IT executives and consultants. Finalists had the opportunity to present their product in a second round with the winner being selected through live voting during the conference.

The INTEREL ‘connectBsmart’ beacon framework enables today’s limited Bluetooth Smart Low Energy (BLE) beacon technology to be fully realized as truly networkable infrastructure. Traditional beacon technologies are offline, battery powered and non-upgradable. When embedded in INTEREL’s intelligent guest room control panels throughout a hotel, the ‘connectBsmart’ beacon framework enables INTEREL’s derivative Bluetooth Smart BLE beacons to be managed as infrastructure. The beacons are powered and online, remotely upgradable and configurable, deliver two-way communication and are fleet managed.

The award-winning ‘connectBsmart’ framework enables hotels to subtly interact with guests through the hotel’s technology infrastructure, using the guest phone’s Bluetooth signal. This will allow hotels to further personalize the guest experience based on the guest’s location within the premises. In addition, hotels will be able to better manage their energy consumption by adjusting lights and temperature based on the guest’s presence and predicted behavior.

Florian Gallini, Group CEO of INTEREL said: “We are extremely proud that our ‘connectBsmart’ beacon framework has been voted the hospitality industry’s best technology innovation this year. Innovation is at the absolute core of everything we do at INTEREL and winning this award is a real testament to the passion and dedication that drives our team.”

As a Platinum Industry Partner, INTEREL has been an active member of HTNG since early 2012. This was the second time the company entered the awards competition, being named first runner up at last year’s awards for their Augmented Reality Room Control App.