MCLEAN, VIRGINIA – Hilton Hotel & Resorts is intending to develop a smart hotel room scheme starting next year. The scheme would be a mobile-based interactive system which would allow guests to control their accommodation experience using mobile devices.
The system, provisionally called Hilton’s Connected Room, is currently being assessed in one of the company’s hotels. Some are reportedly going to get rolled out for beta testing in the next few weeks before a full implementation in 2018.
The interactive tech is accessible via the Hilton Honors app, which will help user-guests to manage various transactions during their stay. It includes helpful functions such as check-in and check-out features, and door, temperature and lighting controller.
Traditional key cards are set to be replaced by app-based digital keys as a means to access a guest’s chosen hotel room.
More than that, the app can also be used to turn on and off lights and to control other smart home appliances like air-conditioner, and television. It also provides guests the capability to display the photos from their own mobile devices on the room’s walls via Wi-Fi-connected picture frames.
According to The Verge, the company also plans to add a voice command system to their hotel rooms in the future, like Amazon Echo and Google Home systems.
The report noted that a user needs to subscribe and create a personal Hilton Honors account before using it. By choosing to operate on an app-based system, the company gains the advantage of instantly adding new features without modifying the hotel’s existing hardware.
Digital Product’s Senior Vice President Joshua Sloser said the company wanted to implement a simple, intuitive, and cutting-edge system and give hotel guests the most enjoyable experience in their brief stay, per 9to5Mac.
Sloser continued that company wants the new system to be as user-friendly as possible to avoid bothering guests with the hassle of adapting to futuristic technologies and just take pleasure in the experience.
The executive also acknowledged that digital products are virtually created out of the needs of consumers and the inadequacies in the market. Hilton’s Connected Room is said to be “no exception” to the concept.
President and CEO Christopher Nassetta said that innovation has been in Hilton’s DNA since it was established almost a century ago. He claimed that the company is the pioneer of the hospitality industry as it continues to revolutionize up to this day.
Nassetta said that with the Connected Room system, the company is “setting a new standard” as they create a unique vacation experience where guests and hotel rooms engage with one another in an easy yet personal manner.
Moreover, the technology is said to be a way for hotel guests to join the company’s corporate responsibility project, Travel with Purpose, by encouraging them to set the room’s air-conditioning in harmony with their respective private schedules.
Hilton Hotel & Resorts is the flagship brand of Hilton Worldwide Holdings, Inc. It was founded in May 1919, 98 years ago, and is renowned globally when it comes to operating full-service hotels and resorts worldwide.
