How many of you chose Betamax over VHS? Sorry to hear it. I'm sure it felt like a good idea at the time, but ultimately the better technology did not prevail and VHS won the day, and our shelf space. Being an early adopter has its risks in the consumer environment and the same can be said in the hospitality guest room.

I was invited to speak at a hotel conference on the impact of 3D TV in the guest environment. Clearly this is exciting stuff and everybody wants to hear more about it, but how many of you actually don those 3D glasses at home? If you do, where do you find the content to watch?

Despite the hype, 3D content remains limited and traditional broadcasters are battling the lack of penetration as well as the total lack of broadcast standards. We are even seeing some of the major PayTV providers such as Canal Plus in France abandon its 3D trials until a day when the barriers to roll out are removed, and more importantly, when content is available. This is a pragmatic approach when one considers that HD is still not mainstream in Europe. So while we play with 3D and it is fun to think about, we suggest that as hoteliers you concentrate first on the basics which are still the migration to digital and HD. You don't want to be stuck with a shelf full of Beta in a VHS future.

Take a walk around a landfill sometime. Okay, admittedly, this is not your average Sunday afternoon stroll, but were it to be, I am pretty certain you would come across a few cast aside pieces of technology that used to function as in-room hotel technology.

Today you would find CRT TVs by the ton, but not so long ago they were all operating in hotels and hoteliers had no choice but to use them. You would also find other, more obscure, pieces of hardware you wouldn’t imagine placing in the living room of your worst enemy. You might even find one of my favorite bizarre technology choices for hotels, the in-room keyboard.

In hotels, you would find the in-room keyboard in all sorts of places: by the side of the TV, in the drawer of a desk covered in dust, sitting on the minibar with scratches earned during its tenure as an improvised bottle-opener. What you rarely ever see are signs of use. People just don't need it. If interactive TV is to satisfy guests, it should be easy enough to use with a simple remote control, just like at home.

How many of you have a keyboard at home to drive your TV experience? Probably none of you. The typical TV experience is one of relaxation -- you are a "viewer" more than a "user," and are so by choice. But what about the Internet on TV experience? To get the full value out of the Internet, you obviously benefit from the use of a keyboard. This is where the experience is getting confused. There is a place for a "viewer" and a place for a "user" and they should not be treated as the same experience. Being a "user" effectively rules out the TV as a device for the provision of Internet -- it is a device best suited for viewing. There are a whole host devices better suited for Internet use: the laptop, the tablet or even the smart phone. So why shoehorn everything together?

Ultimately, few of you access the Internet via the TV at home. Possibly, you access simple TV-centric applications, but not the Internet as we know on a keyboard powered device. So why would you want to change your approach when you get to a hotel? Guest satisfaction is gained by the intelligent implementation of technology, and generally if a device is used in a certain manner at home it will be used in the same manner at the hotel. Intelligent technology implementation means spending money wisely to avoid having your new investment soon end up in the landfill.

Recently, one of our customers decided against placing an interactive TV system in their four star hotel. The reason? They thought that including a flashy LED TV with a traditional channel package would be enough. It has been in the past, right? Well, in-room entertainment is changing and for a four star hotel, that LED TV is no longer enough to separate them from the budget brand competition.

Many budget brand hotels are now providing guests flashy LED TVs of their own, and on top of that are offering free Internet, something many four-stars do not provide. The result is that the in-room guest experience, with the exception of the bed and room size, is remarkably similar between the budget brand and our four star customer (well nearly, since internet in the four star hotel still costs 20 euros).

So, what can higher-end hotels do to differentiate themselves from the competition? They should embrace iTV, and soon. These days, most customers have HD iTVs with movies on demand in their homes and are expecting the same entertainment experience when they travel. We know this because we have seen an increase in guest comment cards requesting the implementation of an in-room entertainment system to complement the flashy new LED screens.

By moving away from iTV, higher-end hotels risk a failure to differentiate themselves from budget brands and a failure to keep up with the entertainment standards of their customers.  That is not a good mix.

Our fall webinar series is going to focus on the exciting future of the hotel industry and how technology is shaping the hotel of the future.

For our first webinar in this series, taking place in October, 2011, we will talk about Content in The Cloud. Join us for an insider’s view of what it takes to deliver content from the cloud for more reliable HD movie distribution in hotel rooms.

We will show you how content transmission via Acentic Cloud Services provides key benefits for hoteliers such as:

● Simplified distribution of thousands of HD movies and content compared to transmission via satellite
● Faster transmission with no negative effects on HD picture quality
● No geographical transmission boundaries as with satellite—Acentic can easily transmit movies to additional continents, including the United States and Asia
● Cost-effective decentralised movie distribution and virtual storage space that enables hotels to share content with each other, significantly reducing transmission costs

Exact date and time will be communicated shortly. Be sure not to miss it!

Next up, join us  for our perspectives on  further hot subjects for the hospitality industry such as high speed internet access in the hotel room, Smart TV and hospitality focussed Mobile Apps. More to come soon!

TV technology is on the fast track these days. It seems like not a month passes when a TV manufacturer doesn’t announce a new smart TV. With all this buzz about smart TVs, it was just a matter of time before hotels picked up the topic, discussed and predicted the end of system integrators and Pay TV. Smart TVs are arriving in earnest.

However, what most decision makers do not realize is that smart TVs are only as smart as the applications that are developed for them. The purchase of a smart TV also requires hoteliers to think about which applications they require and more specifically, which applications are best suited for the hotel environment.

As system integrators, we are working closely with the TV manufacturers  to develop application suites that fully leverage the capabilities of the TV and meet the needs of the hotel guests whilst at the same time providing hoteliers with a return on investment. In other words, it’s the applications that make the TV smart.

For example, Acentic launched our brand new CoreUI and due to its system architecture we were able to retro-fit over 500 hotels with this brand new Guest User Interface. The new CoreUI enables the hotel to choose from a variety of what we call "On-Screen Apps" which enable the hotel to offer a lot of new services beyond simple payTV and hotel information.

We at Acentic are focused on providing services that fall into two kinds of applications, the ones bringing the hotel services to guests and the neat little helper apps that allow guests to get flight information, find out about the weather at their next stop, or simply order a sandwich. Both types of applications are needed for a truly smart TV environment and need to be integrated within a wider interactive strategy that also entertains guests and provides the property with a return on investment today but also tomorrow.

Today’s technology is rapidly evolving and the software applications that make devices smart are evolving even faster. In such an environment a system integrator  that can deliver the latest smart technology but also ensure that your platform is upgraded through the years is key for both the property, the property's finance director and impotantly the guests.

Everybody’s been hyping sustainability over the last decade, at least in the world outside of our industry. Our industry has been quietly talking about it only since a a couple of years. Are we not seeing the benefits of claiming a green image, or don’t we see the (financial) benefits clear enough?

Did you know that research shows that 10% of all travelers would stay at a hotel with a clear sustainability policy, over one that doesn’t?

Surely hotels have been applying the towel-policy but can we call that sustainability?  It’s certainly a good start but we’re still relying on guests, who are ignorant about it and think that when they’ve paid for an – in their eyes – expensive room, they want to make use of everything in the room. Including all of these towels. So perhaps that’s a bad example and it’s not a driver of a hotel’s the green image. But what is driving this and how can we support you?

Just as an example, I recently booked a conference in a renowned hotel chain. In their offer, it was clearly stated that the hotel did everything to reduce carbon emissions during our stay. A good step forward from the towels-policy, but unfortunately not really concrete. Is this already an image builder (good or bad, up to you)?
A well known and successful hotel image builder is the Marriott Green Initiative. This programme is  concrete in terms of energy and CO2 saving and the guest is becoming aware of this throughout their complete experience at the hotel (before, during and after their stay). So it’s rather on a hotel’s core business strategy to differentiate from another while saving money in its operations and communicating this openly to its guests.

Exactly, saving money! And isn’t that what we’re all after? A green image is (only) interesting when it attracts more visitors, and more visitors on the long run can only be achieved when sustainability is considered into a brand’s core strategy (otherwise it may soon come across as fake). When it’s part of the core strategy it will also save costs. So at the end, doesn’t sustainability, when applied correctly, both save money and  bring in more recurring clientele? Then why don’t we see more of these best practices, and why don’t we have one hotel brand in mind which lives and breathes sustainability?

Is there something we can do as technology suppliers? Are we clear enough in our communications, and if we aren’t, what should we improve? Let me give you an example with our PrimeSuite TVs and Acentic’s Panorama as this would be close to your interests. We’re known as not the cheapest solution in the market, and we don’t aspire to be. However, over the lifetime of the product, we offer a better financial result for your operations as we help you save money and build your sustainability strategy resulting in repeat business. Acentic’s system - with PrimeSuite TVs - runs on only a small STB rather than a DVB-tuner or a mini computer, saving you 91% in energy costs. With the PrimeSuite TVs you will save another €20 per year per TV versus the average currently installed sets or competition. The combination of Philips and Acentic results in reduced lifetime cost or TCO, rather than plainly focusing on the initial cost!

Think cost saving, think repeat business, think sustainability. Let us know what we can do to help you!
I invite you to discuss this with us on LinkedIn, Facebook or Twitter (key words: PhilipsHotelTV).

Until recently, the stereotype was that men were incapable of focusing on more than one thing at a time, that we could not multitask--my wife will be the first to confirm some lingering truth in that perception. However, a recent study shows that man’s ability to multitask (or at least our perception of it) has changed, which presents a challenge to you as hoteliers, specifically as it regards in-room technology.

Oh, it was so easy twenty years ago when the only entertainment a guest had in his room was the TV and perhaps an outrageously priced telephone system. Options for entertainment were limited. Things got more complex with the advent of the laptop (remember the first ones with a battery the size of a brick?) and then broadband Internet. The TV had a competitor in the room, provided that the hotel had managed to implement a broadband solution. Then, mobile phones arrived, marking the death of that cash cow that was the hotel phone system. Today we have smartphones, increasingly complemented by snazzy tablets. The adoption rates for each successive device has accelerated exponentially; new technology catches on more quickly than it ever has. The travelling human being is now a walking antenna and (apart from the still unproven health risks) this poses a significant problem for hoteliers.

Let me go back to the subject of multitasking. A recent study by Deloitte entitled “The State of the Media Democracy” provided a startling insight into consumer behavior. The study found that 71% of Americans still rate watching TV as their favorite activity, however whilst watching TV:

- 42% of viewers are also online
- 29% are talking on cell phones
- 26% are using instant messaging or sending texts

While the study doesn’t reveal the gender of the participants, it’s fair to assume that a fair number of men were in the percentage of multitaskers.

Add to these numbers that 33% of consumers have a smartphone and that 56% use their smartphone as a replacement for their laptop when away from home, and it’s apparently that hoteliers have to cater to a remarkably complex world of technology options.

How do you deal with this complexity? I believe that you have to embrace it. My message to hoteliers is that you can no longer isolate each in-room topic.

Interactive TV can no longer be looked in isolation from broadband Internet (be it wired or wireless). Yes, I hear many of you say “we have a converged strategy” but usually that strategy is limited to the network these devices share not the actual services and applications being delivered. There are considerable synergies to be had between the devices and the content delivered to them; one unique platform needs to manage the way in which hoteliers communicate to their guests over these multiple devices rather than multiple fragmented systems.

Have we fully figured out how to best leverage all these devices? Probably not, but we do know that, from an organization point of view, a hotelier mustn’t fragment its approach.

A recent hotel chain I was speaking with on the topic of iTV sent me to a completely different team when the conversation shifted to broadband Internet. Both teams had their own agenda and little interaction except for infrastructure concerns. There is a connection between the technologies, so there needs to be a connection between the teams.

To develop a coherent guest entertainment and information multi-device strategy, it is necessary to implement cross-functional teams that go beyond single-purpose IT and purchasing teams to integrate marketing and e-marketing. As our devices connect, share purposes and build on each other’s strengths, so should we. We don’t have to embrace multitasking at the expense of organization--rather, hoteliers can look at multitasking as the means to connect services already available to create an in-room entertainment approach as complex and rewarding as the technological world we inhabit.

Acentic attended the Dubai Hotel Show last week and we showcased our Panorama HD integration with the new LD650 from LG. This show was the ideal event to showcase Acentic’s ability to deliver a cost effective IP solution with no in-room Set-Top Box. With the integrated solution from LG and Acentic,  IT departments at major luxury hotels no longer have to deal with disconnected rooms caused by removed cables. They can say goodbye to the simple day-to-day housekeeping of in-room systems with a simplified system installation. We did have some dubious visitors at the conference that believe the STB under the furniture is still the only way, but even they were impressed by the form factor and the speed of the Acentic Flash interface’s channel zapping times. Acentic is looking forward to further deployments in the Middle East region where we can leverage our Dubai network operations centre and local teams. We had a great show and had some fun, we even saw the most optimistic sales person we’ve ever seen at the Dubai show: a company that shall remain nameless actually selling outdoor heaters, tough sale with the outside temperature hitting 40 degrees C!

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.

I have recently overheard a few discussions about the death of video on demand (VoD).  The talks described how internet delivered VoD to “connected LCDs” would mean the end of system integrators, but also it would be the end of all the established cable operators and satellite based PayTV companies. I must admit, it all sounded a bit extreme, but it did make a compelling argument for the uninitiated to invest in a connected LCD. At a recent conference attended by many of the leading cable operators, the Over the top (OTT) content services were looked at and analyzed in depth. The implications could be huge with new players. It makes me think of the hungry Internet giants coming in and competing effectively with established players who have massive network investments in place. However, reality is different, especially in Europe’s highly fragmented content market. With studios keen to protect their content, premium HD content is available only through tried and tested controlled networks with hardware-based security systems. Add to that specific rights for content commercialized in hotels, it may be some time before viable OTT services can be legally delivered to the guest’s TV. Acentic is however, immigrating its platforms to leverage the cloud through controlled and secure connections giving hoteliers the benefits of the cloud while providing the Studios with peace of mind.