Courtyard by Marriott’s GoBoard is an interactive centerpiece of the brand’s new lobby prototype.

While strolling through the hotels’ lobbies, guests would often glance at muted TV monitors—usually showing a cable news channel—but the monitors were not really engaging them. More to the point, the habits of guests themselves were evolving, and the brand felt a need to address that.

“Their view on travel and how they want to be treated was changing dramatically—the customer in the past was the 'key-and-latch’ guest, who would grab the key at the front desk, latch the door on the room and never come out. That’s changed,” says Brian King, Courtyard’s global brand manager.

Today’s increasingly social travelers continue to blur the line between work and relaxation, and with that in mind, brand managers set upon converting the passive lobby television into an interactive information hub.

The result is the Courtyard GoBoard, a focal point of the brand’s revamped lobby. The 52-inch (132-cm) LCD touch-screen lets guests sift through information, flight updates, maps and weather, plus updated news content from USA Today.

“Instead of waiting, watching for the sports scores to flash by, they can touch the screen and find them,” King says. “It gives them control.”

Most of the content on the GoBoards is customizable, allowing hotel managers to load local concierge information. Only the news headlines and weather—both of which have static placement on the screen—are not customizable.

Guests can navigate using the touch-screen for sortable restaurants, local attractions and directions. The map function allows users to zoom in on a neighborhood or destination and have the directions printed out in the business center. Especially popular is real-time flight information, sortable by airline or destination.

GoBoard technology was designed by Denver-based Four Winds Interactive. The first hotel to install the GoBoard, the Courtyard Fairfax Fair Oaks, Virginia, saw its customer satisfaction scores in the category of innovation shoot up 17%.

Courtyard expects to install GoBoards at all North America properties by 2011, at an estimated cost of about US$14,000 per property, plus content licensing fees. Regionalized versions of the GoBoards likely will be implemented internationally within a few years, King says.

The newest interactive signage product from Janus Displays, which made its debut in June at Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport, is the interactive real-time Flight Systems Touch Screen. Like the Courtyard GoBoards, the Janus touch-screens let guests sort flight data by airline or destination. The O’Hare Hilton, which has 11 of the touch-screen monitors installed throughout the property, has noticed an uptick in F&B sales since the Janus technology was installed due to guests staying on property longer upon learning of delayed flights.

Janus touch screens also mirror GoBoards in their customizability. Hoteliers can upload digital marketing collateral related to hotel restaurants and services, along with interactive maps of the property, including personalized wayfinding capability. The touch-screens also have live video playback functionality, which could be used to promote hotel hotspots in real time, showing off a pool party or a lively bar scene.

Interactive touch-screen signage has been hugely popular at Hilton Chicago O’Hare Airport

Hilton Hotels & Resorts is the first hotel brand to implement Wavescape, a revolutionary interactive advertising platform from Reactrix Systems Inc. and Samsung. The interactive flat-panel display technology, which can be triggered from up to 15 ft. (5 m) away, allows guests to immerse themselves in an ad, fostering group experiences around advertising and leading to more effective brand messaging.

For Hilton, that means a new way to inform guests about services and brand offerings. Hilton plans to use the 57-inch (145-cm) Wavescape monitors as a fun, interactive option for virtual concierge services and promotion in hotel lobbies.

Another incarnation of this kind of interactive hotel advertising comes from Monster Media, Orlando, which created a three-dimensional digital video model of Echelon Las Vegas. The Boyd Gaming resort is using the highly interactive imagery to sell condominiums in advance of its 2010 opening.

Monster’s ScreenFX technology uses two cameras trained to an area just in front of the monitor that pick up hand movements, which are then reflected on the screen. Users can twist, spin or zoom in on the amazingly detailed virtual model of Echelon with simple arm movements.

Perhaps the most famous example of interactive touch-screen technology in hotels’ public spaces is the implementation of the 30-inch (76-cm) Microsoft Surface tabletop display at Sheraton Hotels & Resorts and select Harrah’s Entertainment properties.

For example, at the Rio All-Suite Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, several Surface units made their debut in June in the iBar ultra-lounge. Users can flirt by sending digital messages to guests at other Surface units within the bar, or they can play video games or watch digital videos. Of course, Surface also has virtual concierge offerings as well.