HITEC 2006:

Spotlight On The Guestroom Of The Future

By Derek Gale, Associate Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 6/1/2006

This year’s HITEC is set to be the largest in the show’s history, featuring an expanded exposition floor with nearly 700 booth spaces and an expected attendance of more than 5,000. Exhibition space was added after increased demand generated by the new GUESTROOM 2010 initiative, which will include a 90 ft. x 40 ft. (27 m x 12 m) pavilion featuring some of the latest and near-future technologies for the modern hotel room, along with a guestroom prototype. “Our goal is that GUESTROOM 2010 will be an important reference for the industry and we plan to include non-traditional types of technology including lighting, fabrics and furniture, as well as more traditional technology like new generation televisions, phones and maybe even robots,” says Frank Wolfe, HFTP executive vice president and CEO.

The focus on the guestroom of the future begs the question of whether hoteliers can accurately predict what is coming down the line in terms of technology, and whether it is possible to prepare for it. Five years ago it might have been difficult to imagine a hotel offering guestrooms with wireless Internet access, flat-screen televisions featuring on-demand programming and connectivity panels with inputs for portable music players. Today, these innovations make up the hotelier’s reality. And with research and development marching on, no doubt countless additional technologies will come to market every year. “The guest of the future will drive the hotel room of the future in ways that we cannot yet imagine,” notes Monika Nerger, vice president of technology for the Americas, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group. So how can hoteliers keep up?

The key is understanding the backbone for many of these new technologies. The Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) In-Room Technology Workgroup sees a converged Internet Protocol network as the nerve center for the guestroom of the future. “A converged network based on open standards is the best bet to make additional technology purchases even more interoperable,” reads that group’s white paper titled Convergence: Hotel Technology for Today and Tomorrow. “If you want to future-proof your technology investments, this is [something] you can't afford to ignore,” says Nick Price, chief technology officer for Mandarin Oriental, who has been out front on converged IP networks for hotels.

Hotel 1000, set to open in Seattle this month, heeded that advice. The hotel will feature a fully converged IP backbone with integrated technology offerings in guest- rooms. This includes wired and wireless high-speed Internet access, VoIP touch-screen color-display telephones, 40-inch (102 cm) LCD monitors displaying high-definition television and video on demand, a surround-sound speaker system and a special adapter for guests’ portable music and video devices. Everything works together—the telephones are linked to the LCD monitors for unified messaging, for example. MTM Luxury Lodging, which manages Hotel 1000, worked within the parameters defined by HTNG by bringing together forward-looking technology vendors to cooperate in constructing the fully integrated system. “HTNG participation is radically changing the way hoteliers think about the products they buy,” says Yvette Vincent, manager of Internet and information management at Delaware North Companies Inc. “We no longer have to wait to see if vendors will create something we need. Rather, we are working with our vendors to drive the changes we need in a holistic manner.”

James Simkins, partner and executive vice president of MTM, says the type of converged network in Hotel 1000 will soon become the industry standard for new hotels. “What [individual technologies] people hang on it will vary by the project, the hotel, the owners and the budget,” he notes. “But any thinking developer, owner or management company understands the advantages of working toward a converged system.”

Direct comments to: derek.gale@reedbusiness.com