©2004 Corbin Ball Associates 

The Hospitality Information Technology Education Conference (HITEC) is the largest exhibition and conference focusing on hospitality technology.  If you are interested in how technology will be changing the meeting industry through our hotel partners, this is a terrific conference to attend! I just returned from this year’s conference in Dallas with a number of things that are of interest to meeting professionals. Here are some of the highlights:

High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) in Nearly All Hotels Soon

The biggest buzzes at the meeting were how to provide high-speed internet access (HSIA or broadband) both in wired and wireless formats. More than 70 companies were sharing their broadband wares. The consensus of the experts is that nearly all hotels except the extreme discount hotels will provide HSIA in sleeping rooms and in public space within two years. We are about half way there, and the rest are catching up. Lower and midrange hotels will provide this for free in the sleeping rooms, while the upscale meeting hotels with try to charge as long as they can – at least for the next two years.  These upscale hotels have found very little difference in usage whether they charged for it or not. Average uptake is currently about 25% of occupied rooms and rising.  These fees, however, are negotiable for groups!

Broadband in the meeting space, however, will remain on a charge basis for two reasons: 1.) the demands are much more sophisticated and often requires and knowledgeable in-house tech to manage, and 2.) this is a cash cow – an important revenue stream when related revenue streams (in room phones and pay phones) have all but disappeared.

The major players, STSN, Core and Wayport had strong presences there, but there were many small companies with interesting ideas.

For example, Coaxial Networks and coaXmedia are providing HSIA through the coaxial cable already running to all of the televisions in all of the guest rooms.  In a local version of a cable modem network, they can provide secure signal at a fraction of the cost and time of retrofitting existing properties with Cat-5 cable.  In a similar route, Telkonet provides HSIA through the power lines in the property. Anyplace there is an AC plug, you have HSIA using a simple adapter. Installation can be completed in a couple of days.

Wireless (Wi-Fi)

Wi-Fi was also a big buzz. Hotelier are trying to figure out how they can make a business model out of this, but there is no question that it has reached the tipping point – WiFi hotspots are sprouting like mushrooms and the demand is skyrocketing. My hotels and businesses are beginning to give it away.

Most commonly, Wi-Fi will be used in the public space (with the meeting rooms being blocked) rather than the sleeping rooms. However, some companies are deploying powerful WiFi antennae that can “paint” an entire property at a lower cost than wired methods.  For example, Belair Networks has covered the entire 9-acre Sheraton Maui including the beach using their antennae.

Wi-Fi security is a big problem, but it is one that will be likely pushed to the user. In order to make the systems easy to use, they are set up with few restrictions. Let the user beware! It is up to you to make sure that you are using anti-virus and firewall protection. The ideal solution that will see an explosion of use is the VPN – a virtual private network that will encrypt all transmission between your computer and your server.

Voice over the Internet (VoIP)

For the past ten years we have used two completely separate systems for communication: the telephone and the computer. We will look back at these times and marvel at the inefficiencies caused. We are seeing the convergence of communication and computing to bring a whole new world of opportunities. The standard “dumb” phone will add computing power to bring us:

• Video conferencing
• Ties to our computer contact database
• Nearly unlimited customization capabilities.

Here are some ideas that are being floated for your guest room phone:

• Group directories (to see who is checked in with your group – with direct calling capabilities (room number hidden and cloaking capabilities)
• Group specific agendas posted to the phone
• Group specific pages and notification
• Language specific menus (if the guest speaks Japanese, the menu is in Japanese)
• One-to-one video conferencing from room to room
• Complete integration of the in-room entertainment system with high-resolution video on demand of group presentation that were missed.
• VoIP will also allow you to plug your “VoIP” phone into any broadband connection and be identified and ring when someone call your business number with no additional connection fees.

VoIP “cell” phones are just around the corner allowing for connectivity within a Wi-Fi zone at little or no connection charge (the telecommunication companies are still trying to figure this one out). These phones could be used by a group as an audience polling device. The possibilities are endless. Sprint Hospitality Marketing showcased this an a number of other products.

E-Menus

The large Microsoft booth/island hand a number of interesting items including the electronic menu by Ameranth using a table PC for meal ordering. Not only can you speed the order process, you can get a nutritional analysis of what you ordered, and even play computer games while you wait. They are battery operated and Wi-Fi connected, so you can plop one down on tables when things get busy.

Hotel Check-in Kiosks

Check-in kiosks are coming to hotels. The airlines have successfully implemented them to cut labor and lines and many hotels are next. Sheraton has just announced a significant deployment to most of their properties.

Let’s face it, people do not like to stand in lines. Often times, the first experience in a hotel in a negative one – having to wait more than a minute or two in a check-in line.  Some of the high-end hotel will resist with preference to the “personal” touch. Although checking in a person face-to-face is preferable when this service is provided quickly, a kiosk, in my opinion, will beat a long check-in or check-out line any day regardless of how personal it is.

IBM, NCR and others show their most recent versions of hotel kiosks.

The great thing about E-Paper is its very low power requirements. This makes it ideal for signs. An electronic e-paper sign can run up to six months, with up two 12 sign changes a day on a couple of batteries. They can be connected to a Wi-Fi network and operate on an easel with no AC required.

The signs act like paper – they must be front-lit, as they have no power-hungry backlighting as a computer LCD or plasma screen has.

Also, right now the signs are only in black and white and not very high resolution (about 100 dpi). The potential for computer-controlled, very easy to manage and set up signage for hotels is significant.