The bundling of hotel in room services is a real area of growth. Where we are bundling TV services with High speed laptop connectivity for an all inclusive price, the total income increase is between 20 and 30%. We can assume that the increase in price is driven by the traveler who brings his or her own laptop and decides to plug into email, knowing that he or she can get free (perceived ) films. OR…and more likely, is it the movie watcher who is traveling for work and has his or her company paying all expenses. I’d like to think that its neither and instead it is just good marketing.

I was debating this behavior during my monthly cup of tea with the good Archbishop and I must say, I thought his interest lay in his kindness towards my enthusiasm. Lo and behold, just this morning he has announced his very own bundling of services. To keep up with modern day living habits, he has introduced a two in one wedding and baptism liturgy in an endeavour to make peace with families “living in sin“. He’s marketing it as a “Hatch and Match” ceremony allowing couples to have their children baptized straight after the wedding. So he learnt a little bit from me…..but I need to learn a bit from him about pricing…his bundling price is £272!!

Through the years of the successful hotel iTV industry much has been said, in haste, about the worth of the industry’s considered investment in film content for hotel guest rooms. We, at Acentic, maintain our position that it is imperative that we provide the highest quality studio releases continuously, month after month, despite the enormous hard work and costs. Sophisticated hotel guests demand it.

Latest release cinematic programming and digital TV quality is a service and a right for the luxury hotel guest. This is why, Acentic has recently increased our uptake of cinematic releases from our dear friends at Filmbank from 36, to 48 cinema titles per territory, per annum. In addition to our variety of content in (Yoga, Bonsai, relaxation, etc.).

Whilst many of your guests may do the Boulevard or Broadway, it is essential that hotels give their guests freedom of choice.

As you may know, born in Scotland, I am an avid golfer with a “could do better” handicap.

We at Acentic are very proud that the Evian Masters is held this past week at one of our loved iTV customers the Evian Royal Resort in France which is celebrating its 100th year. Congratulations Ms. Ai Miyazato, Great hotel...great event!

http://www.evianmasters.com/spip.php?article1632

Recently our salesperson in Spain, Carlos, stayed for one night in a small four star hotel just outside Barcelona. He was extremely impressed and surprised when he noticed that in every room, the hotel has 49 bedrooms in total, there is a laptop PC with Internet connection, free of charge to guests. It drew his attention, not only because of the ‘wow effect’, but also because of the unusual added value the hotel owner wanted to give to every guest.

Leaving aside any debate about whether this investment will pay-off in time or not, not to mention the maintenance costs that obviously are not cheap, the impression Carlos got is that this is the future of hotel services. This leads us to our blog for today, the discussion of hotel services being revamped. We at Acentic believe that what most hotels offer today in terms of in-room internet and TV services will dramatically change or they should anyway. Today’s savvy and empowered hotel travellers are going to demand these kinds of hotel technology improvements to hotel rooms. We’re all for it!

When I was at Babson College in Boston I was drilled on ROI – the textbook tells us that ROI is:

“A performance measure used to evaluate the efficiency of an investment or to compare the efficiency of a number of different investments. To calculate ROI, the benefit (return) of an investment is divided by the cost of the investment; the result is expressed as a percentage or a ratio.”

In an average year Acentic, a SME, invests some €45M in equipment and services dedicated to hotels. Our ROI takes on a different spin; we still meet the rigorous textbook calculation targets set by our supportive shareholders, however...

The more rewarding ROI is the satisfaction and deep loyalty of our customers and staff:

When our Sales Director messages me at ungodly hours from strange countries with “this is the best job in the world” – I am rewarded.

When a hotelier invites me to lunch for companionship and joint business brainstorming – I am rewarded.

When one our engineers chases me down the corridor to show me a 5% improvement in system, performance – I am rewarded.

Successful business is not about a fragile stab in the dark investment for a quick ROI, our success has come from understanding our customers and how that contributes to ROI, and the damn hard work to make it happen.

Acentic’s business model is simple and focused – support our customers with our considered but important investments; build on our strengths everyday and have some fun!

During these revolutionary times I am pleased that our ROI comes from the subtle personal moments with our loyal customers and staff.

I sat down the other day in one of my favorite hotel lobbies and as I opened up my laptop the General Manager arrived and proudly started explaining how his hotel technician had installed and set up a free WiFi service with some simple off-the-shelf equipment.

He was right. I was able to easily connect to the Internet and download all my emails that had piled up over the day. Looking around, I wasn't the only one that was using the WiFi while the waiter was keeping fit traveling back and forth from the bar with drinks and snacks. The lobby had been transformed into a hive of activity.

Whilst I applaud the innovative service-minded hotelier who actually is one of our industry friends, I still have two tips for him and all General Managers out there.

The first tip is, don't deprive the hotel of an obvious revenue stream. Even though it is possibly supplemented by additional traffic at the bar as people take a coffee as they work. However the provision of HSIA is a business essential and as a result guests are ready to pay (sensible amounts) for quality connectivity and security. The term quality is of course open to discussion but one thing is certain, quality must include sufficient bandwidth, VPN support, security for guests, regular software updates and a helpdesk. All of these require an investment by the hotel, which goes beyond the implementation of a few hotspots and free access. New investment will be needed every year as the needs in bandwidth and security constantly evolve and guests become more demanding with their Internet access.

My second tip involves the responsibility of the hotel. Throughout Europe newly implemented laws insist on the tracking of connectivity to ensure that guests that might have partaken in illicit online activities can be identified. The tracking also usually requires the storing of data for a period of 12 months. An EU Directive was published in 2006 http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:L:2006:105:0054:0063:EN:PDF and is coming into effect across most European countries.

 Whatever Internet strategy is adopted by hotels, free or pay, it is important to think ahead to maintain quality service and remain in line with the data retention acts of each country.

A Senior Vice President of a global hotel group asked me over dinner last night why should I pay high rental fees for just Pay TV?

The beauty of rental is that it is flexible; conditions can be adjusted to match boom and recession. Read: "Hotelier cash flow in partnership.”
That means that hoteliers have a variety of options to choose from through a rental agreement, and it doesn't necessarily need to be an expensive one. They can adjust the rental conditions to their needs and get exactly what they want.

Our marketing guru's tell me that "Acentic is an international provider of digital TV and IP converged services to hotels, tourism facilities and healthcare premises" (in other words, we have moved on a bit from payTV, Mr. SVP) however beyond being a technology and content provider Acentic is, more importantly, a finance and technical service provider and has been for 30 years. Our years of experience allow us to adjust offers to the hoteliers needs from both a technological and a financial point of view, so they can have an adequate solution to satisfy their guests. But, at the end of day if hoteliers choose the cheapest solution with minor service offering, they can’t expect to get the highest guest satisfaction and ROI.