InnSpire

With an increasing use of technology anytime, anywhere, hotels have to adapt and propose more innovative ways for guests to experience their stay. Hotels are not only active on Internet via various social media (facebook, linkedin, twitter, pinterest), they are now being technology-active within their establishments, developing apps and all sort of gadgets. 

Martin Chevalley, CEO & Co-Founder of InnSpire, said, "Gadgets are becoming an ever-

more integrated part of our everyday life, but that doesn’t mean that everybody loves the gadgets.  What people love is what their gadgets do for them.  I think that Guest Media Streaming won this award because hoteliers realized that it hits the sweet spot for travelers, being able to easily use their gadget to wirelessly stream photos, videos or music of their choice directly to the TV in their room, without downloads or installations.  This innovation meets that need for hotels." 

Hotel Technology Next Generation (HTNG) has announced the 6^th March 2014, the 2013 winner of the most innovative hospitality technology award.

HTNG is a global non-for profit organization that coordinates and articulates the technologies related to hotel industry. It aims in fostering the innovation in order to improve the guest experience, increasing the effectiveness and efficiency of the professionals.

Hotel Technology Next Generation is a link between innovation, technical practices and the businesses.

It manages every year the most innovative hospitality technology award, during which a technology firm is elected as the most innovative of the year. Different hoteliers and consultants evaluate online or on-site, the technology firms who have developed products and services for the hospitality market. This year’s competition hosted 18 new entrants developing various technologies and systems mainly focused on guest service and entertainment.

The award opens each year a handful of possibilities for innovative firms as well as for hoteliers willing to cope with the continuous and perpetual changes of the technology landscape. 

The winner was the firm InnSpire. InnSpire is an hospitality solution which develops fully integrated technologies to improve the customer experience and the efficiency of the hotel. Indeed, it has systems for staff and resources planning with alerts when there is a peak. It also has a communication software to increase the interaction with the guests, in the case of special requirements or just for a simple room-service order. It enables hotel to follow instantly the activity of their establishments and have a overall view of their sales and for example who are their most profitable clients. 
The awarded service is their streaming solution: guests can easily and wirelessly load their own contents (movies, games, music, photos) from their devices directly to the TV in their room. This technology is possible via the Innspire box; guests just need to activate the system via the TV and connect their IPhone, IPad, Android or Windows phones without any app downloading or any setting up.

This technology respond to a willingness to be connected at all time. It allows guests to be over-connected while travelling, it is a way to facilitate the access to their own data. It also develops value for the hotel implementing the technology, creating an intelligent environment. 

Though this technology seems to be fully integrated in the hospitality industry, we can be critical and wonder if this type of technology wouldn't be a brake to the exploring and wandering implied by any kind of travel. Is the ease of digital accessibility in hotels will change the tourist behavior? 

Sources

Hotel News Resource http://www.hotelnewsresource.com/article76818.html
HTNG Organization http://www.htng.org/press-releases/572

Video and Image: http://www.innspire.com

Amandine Peton & Mélanie Lesieur 

Microsoft launches its new version of Microsoft Surface table and its tourism application “ISO Travel Solution”.

What is Microsoft Surface? A computer reacting to natural hand moves and touches so as to real objects which are placed on its surface. The "natural user interface" allows the selection of objects on a touch sensitive surface, moving them and changing their size. Multiple users can work simultaneously with information, content, and physical objects on the large horizontal 360degree user surface.

The 4 main attributes of the Microsoft Surface are:

• Handling of multiple users simultaneously
• Multitouch
• Direct interaction
• Object recognition

After a first launch in 2007 of the original version, Microsoft came back in January 2011 with a new version highly updated in terms of weight, size & cost but also on the technology and software used to power up the device.

First version of Microsoft Surface launched in 2007

New version launched in 2011

This new edition has been followed by the creation of multiple applications and especially the ISO Travel Solution in the tourism industry.

This application enables you to book hotels, flights, rental cars, cruises and packages. The choice starts with an interactive brochure or with the world map, and dive in!  You choose your preferred products with your finger and place them on the table. May you need further information about a service or a destination, an intuitive menu will guide you through the whole available content. Objects can be moved and placed in the shopping basket with a finger, and you can obviously process directly the booking and payment of all products.

The hotel group Sheraton Hotels & Resorts has already adopted the system in some strategic establishment in the USA adopting as such a totally new hotel guest experience.

Featuring easy-to-use technology and a natural way of accessing information, Surface units have been placed in the lobbies of selected Sheraton hotels in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle. Sheraton has been the first hotel to offer Microsoft Surface, creating a new Sheraton brand experience bringing interaction, connectivity and a social setting to the lobby, providing guests with an entirely new way to explore local tourist highlights and enhance their hotel stay through the three main options:

• CityTips®. At the guests’ fingertips are the Surface 360-degree satellite maps and tools to search for local restaurants and bars, entertainment, recreation, shopping, transportation and services, such as banks and pharmacies. Guests can discover all a city has to offer by simply moving their hands across Surface.

• Sounds of Sheraton. Microsoft Surface also serves as a lobby-based digital jukebox, enabling guests to create personal music playlists by choosing selections from Sheraton’s exclusive offering of Sony BMG artists, including John Legend, Kenny Chesney and Lauryn Hill.

• Sheraton Snapshots. Guests can explore Sheraton hotels and resorts throughout the world by simply browsing the Surface photo library of Sheraton resorts and hotel properties to help them plan for future business or leisure travel.

 

http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2008/aug08/08-13sheratonmssurfacepr.mspx

http://www.isogmbh.com/services/tourism-solutions/multitouch-technology/microsoft-surface/iso-with-touch.html

http://lostpr.es/2011/01/31/microsoft-surface-connect-2455544/