Smart Card Debut

Futuristic security systems just starting to offer guests and employees the protection they desire.

By Joan Marsan, Technology Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 4/1/1999

Smart cards symbolize the level of intuitive service hoteliers hope

to provide for their guests in the future. Smart cards will enable visitors

to check in to their room during the cab ride over to the hotel. When

guests arrive, the room will contain all of their desired amenities

because the card, which stores their preferences, alerts the hotel upon

registration of any special arrangements staff will need to make. Visitors

will be able to pay for all services on their smart cards--the cards

are, after all, their credit cards.

To many hoteliers, such a scenario seems years, if not decades, away.

But for others, smart cards are as sure and real as the locks on their

doors and the credit cards in their wallets. Hoteliers are installing

smart card-ready locking systems, and while the systems haven't achieved

the fully integrated scenario that will allow guests to do it all on

one card, these smart systems currently promise a high level of security

for staff and guests.

Securing Peace Of Mind

At the 138-room Hotel Öresund in Landskrona, Sweden, few guests

complain that items are missing from their rooms, general manager Göran

Andersson says. But on the rare occasion that such a

complaint arises, hotel staff members feel awkward. They feel as though

the guest has accused them of stealing, and they have no way to prove

their innocence.

The TimeLox DC-One smart card locking system that

Andersson recently installed markedly increased the Hotel Öresund

staff's sense of security. The system tracks every passage into and

out of a room. It knows what card (and, therefore, who) opened the

door at what time. The system maintains a 400-entry audit trail. Because

both staff and guests are aware of the system's level of sophistication,

staff members are unlikely to enter rooms unwelcomed, and guests are

deterred from making false claims about errant staff and missing possessions.

Keying Into The Future

Installing a new system to combat a rare, even occasional, problem

would seem frivolous. Andersson says many factors contributed to his

decision to install a smart system. First of all, his 11-year-old mechanical

lock system was beginning to fail. The plastic keys had become unreliable,

making for lengthy check-ins and disgruntled guests who couldn't get

into their rooms. While researching replacement systems, Andersson discovered

the cost of installing a smart system was equivalent to the cost of

installing a magnetic system. The only difference, he says, is in the

cost of the cards themselves. Estimates for smart key card costs range

from US$.50 to US$2, while magnetic key cards range from US$.08 to US$.50.

Since the locking system Andersson chose accommodates both smart and

magnetic key cards, Andersson can mitigate the cost of operating the

system by issuing magnetic cards to guests and smart cards to staff.

And each staff person now needs to carry just one key, which is programmed

to let them into the rooms they need access to during the hours they

work. They no longer need to check keys in and out. They can take the

single card home at night, as it works only when they are scheduled

to work.

Ultimately, Andersson says, the system is a bargain.

It is "opening

doors for the future," he says. "We don't know what it's going

to bring with it, but it's the future." After all, already in Europe,

smart cards are everywhere.

Swedish smart cards sponsored by banks eliminate the need for pocket

change, enabling users to do transactions ranging from managing bank

accounts to making phone calls and purchasing newspapers. For now, Andersson

says, banks provide the technology that merchants need to read and draw

from the cards. Once the technology has become fully entrenched and

smart cards have become the standard way of doing business, merchants,

too, will foot the bill. With the introduction of the euro helping to

speed the switch to all-electronic transactions, Andersson feels the

best way to keep up with the times is to install systems that can accommodate

these smart cards of the future--cards that do everything from opening

accounts to opening doors.

Hilton Does It With Honors

General Manager Jan Larsen of the 405-room Hilton and Towers, East

Brunswick, New Jersey, also opted for a smart card system when it came

time to replace a malfunctioning 10-year-old system. As did Andersson,

Larsen found that the only greater cost to installing a dual magnetic

and smart card system was in the cost of the key cards, a cost mitigated,

he says, by distributing magnetic cards to guests. For now, Larsen is

using the SafeLok system strictly as a locking system and for parking

access. But he chose it because it offers a wide range of possibilities

for the future, a range of possibilities that Hilton is aggressively

pursuing.

Hilton piloted a smart card program at its Chicago O'Hare property

that allowed Hilton Hhonors members to check in and out of properties

at kiosks reading smart card chip-embedded Diamond VIP Hhonors cards

issued to top-level members of Hilton's frequent guest program and American

Express corporate cards. The program was successful with the frequent

travelers who used the kiosks to check room reservations, update and

change their customer profiles and review account balances. Cards were

not used as keys, but Jeff Diskin, president and chief operations officer

of Hilton Hhonors Worldwide, envisions a smart system that will allow

card carriers to do everything from reserving a room, to entering it,

to paying for it.

"We're standing at the ready," Diskin says. "We

anticipated more smart cards in the market. It's not really clear

who's going to bear the cost, and that might be one of the big barriers

to why the technology hasn't become more prevalent."

The Next Level

Smart card-enabled systems may well be the key to integrating the next

level of lock security on the horizon, biometrics. Biometric technologies

record voice patterns or take scans of fingerprints and retinas and

can store these bioprints on smart cards. The stored information is

then imported to locking devices capable of verifying the entrant is

the authorized card holder. Such technology is already being developed

by companies such as VingCard and Keyware Technologies of Woburn, Massachusetts.

While few hotels are fully exploiting the capabilities

of smart card systems, the technology offers a level of security necessary

in a world where "electronic locks have become as common as having a bed," says

Larry Chervenak of Chervenak, Keane and Co.

Security depends upon upgrading systems, for the longer systems are

around, the greater the opportunity criminals have to

devise methods for breaking them, Chervenak says. But today's sophisticated

systems are more than an investment in security. They enable better

service.

Tom Murphy Talks Technology

Tom Murphy is vice president and chief information

officer for Bristol Hotels & Resorts of Dallas, Texas.

Q: Bristol currently is focusing its IT efforts

on "The Phoenix

Project," which includes three major initiatives: tactical Y2K

readiness work, brand-standard work and strategical wide-area

networking. Could you describe the project further?

A: The primary business driver is Year 2000 remediation. We have completed

analysis on the home office and 125 hotels, identified all necessary

work, and brought in professional services to assist us. We have wrapped

the strategic implementation of a frame-relay wide area network into

this and will address 1999 brand standard issues (for Bass, Marriott

and Promus), as well.

Q: Getting support for the project took some effort. You've said that

every IT person is primarily a salesperson selling change. How do you

sell change? What are the biggest changes you've been selling at Bristol?

A: Selling change is an everyday activity. The simple answer is...know

who your customer is; know your customer's trigger points and play to

them; be practical and pragmatic, not emotional.

The first "change" was really the perception between the

business and IT. Technology has wrapped itself tightly around almost

every "business" function in the home office and the field.

IT needed to be involved in all levels of the business

to be effective. Now that we honestly understand the

business, we can be more proactive in addressing needs and helping

to drive revenues.

Our success in getting Phoenix off the ground was a direct result of

the success we had selling ourselves as integral members of the business,

and building trust. Selling the WAN, with no direct ROI, has been our

biggest accomplishment to date.

Q: Wide-area networks (WANs) can be a hard sell because many of their

benefits are intangible. What are the benefits of a WAN, and how will

it change Bristol?

A: The Bristol WAN will allow us to significantly

improve the operation of five key systems: Peoplesoft,

which we use for human resources, benefits, payroll, and ap/GL; electronic

mail; transfer of timekeeping data; daily financial reports; and Internet

access. There are tangible benefits associated

with accessibility, elimination of data lines and modems, etc. We

will be moving to centralized data backup of key hotel systems, including

the PMS and the sales & catering

servers on a nightly basis.

The intangibles are too numerous to mention: efficiency, productivity,

ease of use, research capabilities, expanding our Intranet site to improve

communication, knowledge, sales leads, etc. The WAN is an enabling technology.

Q: A look at technological innovations in other industries provides

cues for possible uses of technology in the hotel industry. What new

uses of technology do you forsee for the hotel industry?

A: Our industry has not done a great job of taking

advantage of others' lessons. I see what the car

rental companies have done for speed of check-in and check-out--we

could do that. The Internet clearly will play a role in hotel operations

and guest services. Wireless communications will play a role. The

Mobil Speedpass, or "Tolltags," using

RF technology have immediate applications within the

hospitality industry. The issue is not availability

of smart people or good tools, it is the availability of capital funds

in an industry that is already capital-intensive.

Tech Briefs

Loews Gets Wide Range Of Benefits From Thin Clients

When Bob Fields, the director of technical services for Loews Hotels,

New York, established local area networks (LANs) at the 367-room Loews

House of Blues Hotel, Chicago, and the 800-room Loews Miami Beach Hotel,

he found an inexpensive alternative to IBM 5250 terminals: LAN-attached

IBM Network Computer (NC) Thin Clients.

Fields intended to use the machines to access Loews' HIS Paragon property

management system (PMS). But he discovered the NC Thin Clients work

for other applications as well: as WEB clients for their Intranet, as

low-maintenance alternatives for Intel-based applications, and as high-speed

Internet access terminals for guests.

"The NC is not for everyone," Fields says. "Most likely,

the Power PC users or the user with a laptop will need the control of

the PC." For these users, Loews provides Internet access through

T1 jacks.

But the terminals remain a valuable hotel operations

tool. "If

you're looking for an environment that is centrally administered, has

a high degree of centralized control and a low cost of ownership, the

NC is a good choice," Fields says.

Loews has 15 NCs at its Chicago property and 40 more at the Miami Beach

property. NC costs start at US$499, compared with PC costs that regularly

exceed US$1000.

Rooms With A View

When renovations were completed at Zurich-based Swissotel Ltd.'s New

York property two years ago, company executives wanted to display the

showcase hotel to remote business partners and clients. Oliver Benet,

director of new technology for Swissotel, chose an internet-based solution

IPIX, designed by Interactive Pictures Corporation of San Jose, California.

The 360-degree by 360-degree, three-dimensional IPIX image allows viewers

to interact with the full scope of a room, zooming in on details and

clicking on locations for descriptive narration.

Benet soon found additional uses for the IPIX images. At sales presentations

and trade shows, IPIX allows meeting planners to zoom into banquet spaces

and survey every aspect of a property, lending confidence that the amenities

will meet their clients' needs. And about 400 visitors each day point

and click their way through Swissotel's web site, which includes IPIX

images of all 19 Swissotel properties. The technology is helping to

drive an increase in internet reservations, Benet says.

While the Swissotel web site does not currently

feature audio capabilities, Benet says sound bytes are coming in the

near future. "With all

of the add-on technologies, so much is possible," Benet says.

Picture Perfect

The tiny bit of pub space that became the 15-seat

Sports Deluxe sports bar of the 340-room Hard Rock Hotel & Casino,

Las Vegas, presented vice president and designer Warwick Stone with

unique challenges.

"They all look the same," Stone says of sports bars, "because

they all have televisions." But this bar couldn't accommodate big,

boxy sets. So Stone installed a video wall of six PFM-500A1WU

flat panel displays by Sony, Park Ridge, New Jersey. The 42-inch, wide-aspect

ratio, plasma screens are wall mounted and appear to float above the

bar.

"In a small bar, they're absolutely the right choice," Stone

says. "They're elegant, and the picture is beautiful. And it looks

like tomorrow. It looks like 2000."