Fortunately for hotels, conference and meeting tools aren’t evolving as fast as smartphones and there’s no last-version-toppling newbie making a grand entrance every couple of months. However, the smartphone + tablet + notebook-wielding business person who is at the centre of Monday to Thursday business will demand the latest technology should he decide to make use of your meeting rooms or book a conference.
Meeting room technology sees frequent upgrade. The Zuri Whitefield Bengaluru at precisely this stage. “We are putting in wise projection systems which allow for presentation apparatus to be connected through a wireless network,” says Ashish Bakshi, director of F&B at the hotel. Obviously, getting cables out of the way eliminates concerns related to notebook adaptors and faulty cables. How has he justified these small conveniences to those signing the cheques? “A guest who powers up and finds his presentation on the screen with speed, will be pleased at the lack of need to call for a technician’s help,” says Bakshi.
Then there are tele-presence and real presence video-conferencing solutions. Harish Chandra, general manager for IT at Sarovar Hotels, explains that as the name suggests, these options enable face-to-face discussions and remove the barriers of distance and time. He indicates that such spends haven’t really seen the light of approval. “Only a handful of hotels have invested in these high-end solutions to satisfy the needs of business traveller. Due to the high capital requirement, this technology is not able to gain ground in the hospitality industry,” he explains. That’s not to say it isn’t on the wishlist, or even in the pipeline. Bakshi’s team is focusing on working towards incorporating HD streaming of all videos. The Park Hyatt Chennai wants its The Apartment to be the city’s premier meetings destination. General manager Yann Gillet tells us that some of the tools that they have invested in to attract business folk include the Vocia: WR-1 – Voice Control System and the Crestron TPS – 6X – Touchscreen operating system. “Both have transcended traditional means of conferencing,” he says.
Provider to the world’s best known hospitality names such as Bellagio Las Vegas, Four Seasons, Sofitel, Shangri-La and JW Marriott, AMX in India is putting out some solutions within the universe of high-end conference technology. “The new AMX Touch Panel, called Modero-X is an all-in-one interface,” says country manager Mayank Gupta. The product allows users to scroll within the surface and between surfaces, thereby enabling them to move activities around — it also allows the user to work the screen with both hands, should their task require it. “The MXT-2000XL-PAN comes with a 20.3 inch control surface, IPS glass (which is made specifically for us), offers 2.4:1 panorama, offers HD h.264 video-streaming, light and motion sensors, three USB ports and is only nine inches high — which means it will not obstruct the user’s view across a meeting room table,” says Gupta. It has a 720P camera.
There are smaller and less cost-intensive moves doing the rounds as well. Bakshi refers to a convenient app: “Recently developed applications that allow technicians to adjust sound and lighting from their smartphones, remotely, for the meeting rooms. A technician can toggle to a control screen from his smartphone and adjust sound and lighting in the requestor’s meeting room while on the phone with him,” he elaborates.
Once selected, budgets and payment plans make or break a product’s implementation. And it appears that a lack of suitable options emerges from a lack of focus on hospitality as a buyer. “The major challenge is that IT and Telecom Original Equipment Manufacturers, or OEMs as they are called, don’t have focus on hospitality industry. They develop technologies and solutions for industries like banking, finance, service and insurance, manufacturing, IT and ITES, healthcare and pharma and the government. They try to push the same products into hospitality. Customised solutions that take into consideration our operational distinctions and also our cost-considerations would help,” explains Chandra.
Existing hotels sometimes get better deals than those in the project stage. Bakshi says, “A flexible payment solution is best, where you pay in instalments or as the progression is made or after the particular facility is installed and is ready to use. It is often applicable to an existing hotel but might not be extended to a brand new convention centre, meaning that new payment plans may need to be worked out. In our present negotiations, since the amount of investment is huge, they have offered us flexible payment options with freebies thrown in as discounts.”
These are followed by fear of redundancy. “Besides cost-implications, replacing outdated technology also presents us with logistical hassles,” Bakshi adds.
Suppliers are attempting to take logistical concerns out of the way. “If there is LAN networking available, or if a wireless network is made available, we can look at a limited form of control and automation,” says Gupta. He acknowledges, however, that for best result consisting of maximum, varied and future-proof guest services, AMX solution is best served at the project stage.
A new concern, across front-of-house hotel operations is aesthetics. Hotels are asking for customisation to technology so as to match their brand DNA and design style. “At the Burj Khalifa in Dubai, for the Armani Hotel, we not only branded the touch panel but also painted it gold,” says Gupta.
Hotels also demand technlogy that ensures a glitch-free meeting and therefore high guest satisfaction. “Meeting room technology fails because of usability issues, connectivity problems, audio/video quality and A/V equipment interoperability issues,” Gupta adds. He explains that these occur because the technology cannot be monitored or because the help desk cannot help. The solution, he says, is for hotels to AV-IT convergence and implement a network based control system that is scalable. “For an end-user it must be intuitive and consistent and from the hotel’s perspective it must offer hassle-free trouble-shooting, be energy-efficient and cost effective, and also reliable so that the IT-head does not have to baby-sit it. “
The bottom line, when it comes to conference and meeting tools, is that hotels will need to stay on the ball to keep guests satisfied and booking. As Gupta says, technological upgrades are best carried out while there is development going on at the hotel — as there are logistical implications. In terms of zeroing in on an investment that deliver the best returns, a rule of thumb is to ensure that it enjoys long run and for that, experts say that it is best to future-proof and think three years ahead.
