This week, Acentic is off to Dubai for The Hotel Show 2011 http://www.thehotelshow.com, a yearly conference that includes more than 500 of the world’s leading hotel and hospitality suppliers. It’s an important event held in one of the most unique hotel markets and gives us opportunity to talk about issues facing the industry, as well as share the most innovative new technologies.

Acentic is bringing something quite original to the 2011 conference. As an exhibitor at The Hotel Show, we are sharing our newest TV offering, the LD650 IP-enabled HDTV from LG. This is a significant step in LGs commitment to the hospitality market since it is the first IP-enabled TV greatly simplfying the deployment of IPTV by embedding the set-top box in the screen to avoid expensive and bulky boxes and cabling.

The LD650 benefits from Acentic Panorama’s IP evolved architecture for the delivery of a full Flash interface to the hotel room and a powerful centralised architecture. The result is not only the ability to run processor intensive applications, but also a simple upgrade path over the system’s lifetime with no in-room intervention. The LD650 together with Acentic Panorama IP high definition also provides significant cost savings to the hotelier, as well as simplified maintenance and lower power consumption.

The LD650 will make its way to hotels this summer. We are planning our first installation in Europe for June and Middle East installations will follow, with the support of Acentic’s Network Operations Centre in Dubai. But for now, Dubai is for The Hotel Show, where we are excited to share the LD650 for the first time.

Visit our stand 8 A391 at the Dubai World Trade Centre.

Imagine sitting in a hotel bar and buying a movie and Internet bundle on your iPhone so you can access the hotel’s WiFi. When you’ve finished your drink, head upstairs to your room and watch the movie you purchased on your television. At the same time, you can access the Internet on both your laptop and iPhone, without paying twice.

Up until now, the hotel industry has lacked true convergence between the TV user interface experience and the interface used for high speed Internet access. Hotels need to embrace this new approach where guests can pay for the Internet, surf the web, buy movie bundles and utilize guest services on screens across all platforms, such as the television, laptop, iPad and smart phone.

The challenge for hoteliers is to create the same look and feel across the board so that hotel branding is consistent on the “purchase page” of all platforms. Once the hotel masters that (done easily with Acentic’s Core GUI cross-platform approach), they can also cross-merchandise. This is a huge step forward to build new revenue streams. On the log-in pages where movies are advertised, hotels can now upsell with incentives to buy the full bundle package for use on all devices.
 
Acentic’s Core GUI also allows the guest to access the Internet from two devices. For example, as mentioned above, someone with a laptop and iPhone can access the Internet on both devices, but pay only once regardless of where they are in the hotel – their room, the bar or restaurant, lobby or other public areas.
 
Acentic is offering this convergence now as a chance to boost revenue. In hotels that have launched the Acentic Core GUI together with Acentic Horizon high-speed Internet solution, the overall revenue has increased by an average of 41 percent compared to the previous year. This innovation is making the hotel stay much easier and more satisfying for guests. In addition to the direct revenue increases, these new products and features are driving a major impact on GSTS (guest satisfaction).

Let’s give guests a more enjoyable stay and less headaches while making money on more bundles purchased!

As additional content sources, viewing devices and delivery methods are introduced and quickly adopted by consumers, the various players along the chain must come up with flexible and creative solutions to answer market demands. Content is no longer consumed within the defined borders of the PayTV ecosystem, but via a wide variety of platforms and systems. Soon enough, these new trends will infiltrate and spread from the household to the hotel entertainment industry.

For 2011, we at Acentic have chosen to reflect upon a few New Year resolutions for the in-room entertainment industry, aiming to enhance service offering and entertainment experience for hotel guests.

Reviewing the numerous means by which content is delivered and retrieved by consumers, we find a few common factors that would leverage this experience regardless of content source, or viewing device:

• Ensure service continuity – deliver a consistent high quality of content, no matter which device or content source is utilized. One of the most important factors of user satisfaction from the in-room entertainment provided is the variety and quality of content served.   
• Provide rich and relevant functionality – enable guests to do as much as possible through the in-room system, and enrich this offering with relevant targeted local content. This can be achieved via integrating Digital TV services with targeted banners and promotions for local businesses, restaurants and cultural events.
• Offer intuitive interface – As families, business travelers and other guests frequent your hotel, they do not need to be burdened with learning how to operate the entertainment system from scratch each time. Middleware/UI providers need to ensure that the graphic and textual language used is intuitive and fun. Most guests arriving to their hotel room are either on vacation, or right after their work day has ended. Offer them the luxury to relax and enjoy entertainment.

As a leading supplier of digital interactive TV (iTV) and broadband systems for the hotel industry, we constantly seek and explore entertainment trends, to provide the most functional and engaging experience for hotel guests, while at the same time enable lucrative opportunities for hotel owners. Market trends are not necessarily specific to the hotel industry, and we therefore continuously look at the Digital TV and new media markets to learn and identify consumer trends and introduce them to our industry.

The 17th Annual World Travel Awards http://www.worldtravelawards.com/ has announced the winners for the best in the travel and tourism industry across the World. Acentic is proud to be the technology provider for 11 of the winning luxury hotels in Europe.

Voted on by travel agents worldwide, winning a World Travel Award has become much sought after and great customer service is one of the major differentiating factors. Acentic’s technology system for hotels allows the hotelier to provide the best in customer service and cater to travelers with sophisticated technology demands.

Hotel Winners that Acentic provides in-room entertainment and broadband services for include:

Europe’s Leading Airport Hotel: Sheraton Amsterdam Airport Hotel and Conference Center / Netherlands
Europe’s Leading Business Hotel: Hotel Arts Barcelona / Spain
Europe’s Leading Golf & Leisure Resort: Praia d’el Rey Marriott Golf & Beach Resort / Portugal
France’s Leading Resort and Frances’s Leading Spa Resort: Evian Royal Resort
Germany’s Leading Business Hotel: Westin Grand Berlin
Portugal’s Leading Conference Hotel: The Campo Real Golf Resort & Spa
Portugal’s Leading Golf Resort: Hilton Vilamoura
Russia’s Leading Conference Hotel: Moscow Marriott Grand Hotel
Spain’s Leading Business Hotel and Spain’s Leading Hotel: Hotel Arts Barcelona
Switzerland’s Leading Spa Resort: Kempinski Grand Hotel Des Bains St. Moritz
Wales’ Leading Golf Resort: The Celtic Manor

With the World Travel Awards taking a global lead, more and more hotels are striving to win. Whilst Acentic won’t replace the smile at reception, the great service in the restaurant or that fantastic bed guests will rave about for weeks, Acentic does ensure that when the guest is in the room and not sleeping the entertainment and connectivity experience is on a par or even better than that experienced at home and in-line with the overall service level of the hotel, contributing to the guests’ satisfaction.

We here at Acentic, have always conducted research to understand consumer media behavior since it is the only way to ensure that a hotel meets the needs of their guests with the in-room entertainment services. A recent report from Ericsson’s consumer lab entitled “It’s all about the experience” highlighted some of the trends we are seeing within the hotel room http://www.slideshare.net/EricssonFrance/tv-consumer-insights-ericsson-consumer-lab-2010. The report confirms the growing demand for non-linear Pay TV. In the survey over 50% of interviewed consumers watch on demand content every week. The reality is that the consumer is moving away from a wish to own content (i.e. a DVD) and would rather have instant access to it via On-Demand services. The increased usage within the home will therefore make On-Demand even more in demand in the hotel room. The report also dispelled some of the myths we regularly see in our industry. One of them being that consumers wish to view internet on the TV screen. 70% of consumers indicated that their driver for connecting their PC to the TV was to have a larger screen and 67% said it was to make PC content viewing more comfortable, only 15% stated that it was to browse the internet on the TV. We have always believed that the television will remain the main device for viewing video content. This consumer report is just another sure sign that the TV is used for the passive viewing of “moving pictures” rather than the heavy interaction required with Internet. In fact, 93% of viewing time is still scheduled broadcast TV with picture quality remaining the most important feature. Acentic’s research shows that the most watched television program among hotel guests around the world today is still the news.

Before making big changes in the hotel room entertainment, it is important to make sure it is a system that works for the guests. Keeping it simple is key.

We’ve recently partnered with Filmbank in a promotion to brand hotel key cards, TV banners, trailers, turndown cards, and meal-deal promotions with artwork from new movies that are available on digital TV within the hotel.  One example is our work with UK Marriott, where we distributed 10,000 key cards in February branded with artwork from the film, Sherlock Holmes.  We chose to measure this promotion closely to show hoteliers the benefits and increase revenue that PayTV can bring to their hotels.
The results from the promotion were huge! Guests with the Sherlock Holmes (or Angels & Demons) card were much more likely to spend more on PayTV in-room movies than those guests without the branded key card. Many guests liked the key cards so much they saved them as a collector item, which might entice them to book other hotel rooms to extend their collection of key cards branded with different movies on them. The key card promotion assisted in increased sales with 93% higher revenue in the hotels carrying the promotion. Not only did the films that were promoted have increased sales in the hotel room, but there was an increased awareness among guests for the concept of film offerings as a whole. 
Acentic is very proud to have been a part of this promotion with Filmbank and looks forward to participating in further promotions of this kind. Acentic works with Filmbank often, as it is responsible for providing the widest range of movies to hotels in 10-12 weeks after the cinema release.
I see many opportunities for Acentic and Filmbank to work together to reach better revenue generating PayTV plans for hotels, allowing hoteliers to make the most of Hollywood and reach hotel guests’ high expectations.

Held every two years, the Ryder Cup is the only place to be for those with a passion for golf.  This year, the event will be held at the Celtic Manor Resort on the outskirts of Newport in South Wales.  With 2008’s Ryder Cup drawing just over 243,000 people, 2010 is set to be a huge event with hundreds of thousands of people from over 100 countries around the world.  To make the most of the event and fully enjoy the Ryder Cup 2010 at the Celtic Manor Resort, guests and attendees are going to need clear and practical information on the different aspects of the event, the venue and the festivities. 

Sure most people will be watching the greatest players from Europe and the US battle it out on the course, but during the downtime they’ll want to relax in their room with the television programming they are used to.  The Celtic Manor’s owner, Sir Terence Hedley Matthews, wants only the best in guest room technology for all the Ryder Cup attendees and believe me, Terry knows his technology, having blazed the high tech trail by founding some of the biggest name tech companies in the UK. That’s why we’re helping the Celtic Manor take the next step to provide over 500 TV and radio channels so that there is something for everyone and local programming for all the international guests. We’ll be showing all the greatest golf flicks such as, Caddy Shack, Tin Cup, Bobby Jones: Stroke of Genius, The Greatest Game Ever Played, etc. Also families and children can have plenty to watch if they aren’t interested in what’s happening on the green.
But we’ll also be giving them an entertainment experience that they’ve never seen before when they turn on the TV and see the Panorama and Philips Ultimate HD system. And what goes better with sporting events than HD television?  Guests can watch multiple HDTV channels and movies in their downtime, which the Celtic Manor could only offer with the help of Acentic.
Now all the Ryder Cup attendees can just sit back, relax and look forward to witnessing the greatest players from Europe and USA do battle and absorbing the atmosphere of this thrilling biennial tournament! I’m looking forward to see who makes the putts!

Today, I am proud to take the helm at Acentic as the new CEO.  I’ve been with Acentic since the company was founded in 2003, have seen the many changes we’ve gone through as a company and have helped to create a great brand with innovative technology.  I am proud to have worked now for nearly 20 years in the media industry and look forward to providing continuity and stability for Acentic's employees, partners, customers and new business prospects.

We have a lot of exciting news coming up in the next few weeks but remain committed to our core business and product offering of Digital TV services, High Speed Connectivity and world-wide media and content in hotels. I look forward to working with all of our employees, partners and customers toward new technology and business goals while increasing guest satisfaction, revenue from high speed internet and content offerings in hotels all over Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

We plan to make new and existing customers a continued priority, dedicating ourselves to customer service and quality products.  We always want to keep our hotels happy to help them deliver the best in-room services possible to their guests.  We look forward to the changes and growth the Acentic family has to look forward to in the foreseeable future. 

Thank you,

Richard Robinson, Acentic CEO