It used to be that a hotel stay was a chance to get away from it all. These days, hotel guests are far more likely to bring it all with them – in the form of personal entertainment and productivity devices. They arrive loaded with laptops, netbooks, MP3 players, mobile phones, digital cameras, camcorders and handheld game consoles.
The latest trend in hotel amenities is providing a hassle-free, wire-free system that allows guests to “plug in,” so to speak. For TeleAdapt, a leading provider of connectivity solutions to the hospitality industry, classic Bluetooth wireless technology is playing a big role in the next wave of in-room entertainment solutions.
Wireless Hospitality
According to a November 2008 traveler survey by Samsung and OnePoll called Keeping Your World Connected, 95 percent of hotel guests check in with personal electronic devices, and 67 percent of them want to enjoy these gadgets while in their rooms.
Not surprisingly, the same survey found that a hotel’s in-room entertainment technology has a direct bearing on customer loyalty. Some 36 percent of hotel guests talk about inroom technology (good or bad) to friends, family and travel Web sites, while one-in-fi ve admit to switching hotels based on poor in-room entertainment experiences.
Now U.K.-based TeleAdapt has developed an entertainment connection hub called MediaHub HD that enables guests to connect their devices via Bluetooth technology or cable links to a panel on the wall. The system allows cell phones, laptops or MP3 players equipped with the Advanced Audio Distribution Profi le (A2DP) to wirelessly stream audio through the room’s A/V equipment.
The wireless entertainment hub has been installed at more than 20 hotels around the world, including the newly opened Montcalm in London’s West End. The fi ve-star hotel provides free Wi-Fi and cable broadband access to guests and promotes the service prominently on its Web site. “Our guests tell us that using MediaHub is both useful and an enjoyable experience,” says Vamsi Madduri, who provides IT support at the hotel. “The technology works very well. We don’t have any complaints, only compliments.”
Next-Gen Room Service
MediaHub HD isn’t TeleAdapt’s fi rst foray into in-room connectivity. The fi rm is a major supplier of power, Ethernet and audio/video connectors to hotels worldwide. TeleAdapt connectivity solutions can be found in more than 2 million hotel rooms, including those owned by the Hilton, Marriott and Accor hotel groups.
The MediaHub line was launched in 2008 as a basic audio/video connectivity interface for hotel guests. The latest MediaHub HD entertainment panel with Bluetooth wireless technology was launched in June 2009 as TeleAdapt’s next-generation MediaHub product.
“We understood that wireless was the future,” explains Cheryl McGinty, TeleAdapt’s partner marketing manager–Americas. “Some kind of wireless technology was a must for the next-generation MediaHub.”
She continues, “We incorporated the stereo Bluetooth protocol into the MediaHub HD to convert the in-room TV into a wireless speaker. With MediaHub HD, guests can pair their iPod or other MP3 player with the panel so they can listen to and even control their music from anywhere in the room, even from the bathroom or balcony.”
TeleAdapt is looking forward to implementing Bluetooth Core Specifi cation v3.0 + HS in future versions of MediaHub to facilitate the transfer of large video and music fi les. “Our work with Bluetooth (technology) has offi cially altered the rules for entertainment in the hotel room,” observes McGinty. “We look forward to seeing what future Bluetooth technology will bring to the consumer market and how TeleAdapt can scale its use for the hospitality industry.”
John Lamb’s work has appeared in InformationWeek, CIO Magazine and Computing.