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.

I do quite a bit of travelling in my role at Acentic and in turn I get to explore many varied cultures. It is naive to think that all cultures work the same, and an important part of doing business in today’s global market is learning to adapt to the strengths of different cultures and find common ground where it exists. I’ve spoken to hoteliers across the world, and in my experience there is one point of emphasis that remains consistent. Whether meeting with heads of I.T., marketing, finance, maintenance, front of house or general managers, everyone in the hotel industry cares about the guest experience first and foremost. And this is true whether you are in the UK, Norway, France or Hong Kong -- speaking in English, Norwegian, French, Italian, German or Chinese. All differences in culture and methodology add up to one thing: improving guest experience.

Since our industry has its roots so firmly based in technology, it can sometimes be easy to forget about the human focus. As technology advances in the home environment and Moore’s Law (the law which states that computer processors double in power every two years) continues to prove itself out, our industry often looks to solve every issue by throwing the latest, greatest tech at the guest. While this is often helpful, it is very much only part of any good solution.

In basic terms, people stay in hotels for business or leisure. Regardless, the target for any hotelier is for the guest to leave happier than when they arrived. And this is often an uphill battle. Among all the magazine and TV ads, special offers and discount deals, it seems that hotels sometimes forget that the path to the dream hotel room sold in the brochure or website is a complicated one, full of potential annoyances over which nobody has any control. Before they even get to the front door of the hotel, guests often have to endure traffic jams, parking bays too small their car doors to open, overloaded public transport systems, luggage racks too small for their cases, delayed flights, cancellations, layovers the require an Olympic medal in spiriting and so on.

After all of this, the guest just wants things to work, without complication. If new technology can help this, great. If it makes things more complicated and the guest has to jump through hoops to get basic services, failure. On check-in, the guest is simply not interested in HDMI ports, Network Balancing, Guest User Interface etc., they simply want to get to their room, grab a shower, unpack and feel loved again.

Making the guest feel loved again is a core philosophy behind all Acentic products. No matter how tough the journey to the hotel, things will be better once you get through the doors. Whether the guest wants to use the latest on-screen app (such as the restaurant reservation app), buy the latest must-see movie, or catch up on some TV, the experience will be hassle free.

And ultimately, that is the world any hotelier is striving for, a world where hassle and annoyance ends at the front door. The challenges are different for every guest and every culture, but the goal is universal. As a guest, no matter what the trip entailed, no matter where in the world you are or where you came from, you should be able to expect to be taken care of once you arrive at your hotel. It is our job to ensure that all around the world, guests leave hotels in a better state of mind than when they arrived. Now isn’t that a great industry to be in?

From all of us at Acentic, we wish you, your colleagues, friends and family, a very Merry Christmas and a Happy and Prosperous New Year - Your Acentic Team

We are thrilled to be offering our latest technology services to the newly-opened InterContinental Moscow Tverskaya. With its official opening at the end of November 2011, InterContinental Moscow now counts as one of the most upscale and luxury hotels in Moscow, and we are pleased to be providing them an iTV platform commensurate to that luxury. To Moscow we go!

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.

In case you missed the first of our fall webinar series, "What's possible in the Hotel Room of the Future," you can check out the recording here:

https://acentic.webex.com/acentic/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=42625212&rKey=0F4CFAD05B96F861

In the webinar, we talked about the future of The Cloud and how it is influencing the way the hospitality industry operates. We outlined some of the challenges of The Cloud, and how Acentic is overcoming those challenges to bring better service and savings to hotels across the world. We also answered many questions on topics like network links and security around P2P distribution. So, if you want to be up to date on The Cloud, you should check out our webinar now https://acentic.webex.com/acentic/ldr.php?AT=pb&SP=MC&rID=42625212&rKey=0F4CFAD05B96F861 and keep an eye open for the next in our series, scheduled for Q1-2012.

Our fall webinar series, "What's possible in the Hotel Room of the Future" starts today at 4:00 pm, Europe Time! Join us as we talk about content in the cloud and what it means to the hospitality industry. As you can see from our preview slide here, we are going to cover a lot, so you don't want to miss it.

Sign in to participate in our webinar! www.acentic.com/cloud-webinar

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.

By now, you’ve probably seen these strange images in magazines and in other media and if you are not familiar with them, have wondered about their purpose. Special barcodes? A puzzle to decipher? Alien hieroglyphics? Well, they are QR codes and they have changed the way we do business.

Developed by Toyota of Japan in 1994, the QR or “quick response” code is a two-dimensional barcode that allows its contents to be decoded at high speed. Initially used for tracking parts in vehicle manufacturing, QR codes are now used more widely in commercial endeavors and can be read on most smartphones.

QR codes have sprung up everywhere in the last few years, the hotel included. In the hotel industry, they are mainly being used for guest interaction, to:

• Entice guests to check out hotel facilities or participate in hotel events.

• Run competitions “hidden” in QR-codes that identify a guests’ participation and involvement rates, and drive up revenue when promoting offers, packages or online win opportunities.

• Generate flexible earning opportunities through additional functionality, such as dedicated web pages for guests and advertisers, online guest surveys and other information.

QR codes are also now present in hotel rooms due to international brands who are using the fast growing technology to engage with the typically elusive business traveller. One creative example of QR code use in the hotel industry is a pilot of Acentic Media with MasterCard. MasterCard used a QR code presented on the Acentic in-room entertainment system and Internet access landing page for hotel guests that allowed the guests to enter a competition to win Champions League football tickets. A significant number of guests did just that.

Even though they have been around since 1994, the use of QR codes has only recently become commonplace. We suspect that the future holds more interesting uses for the technology, especially in the hotel industry, as we learn how to better connect with and respond to our guests.

Have you encountered QR codes in the hotel industry? How were they used? If you are a hotelier or brand, how are you experimenting with QR codes and what are the results?

We are thrilled to announce the opening of Acentic Asia.

Located in the iconic skyscraper Hopewell Centre in Hong Kong Island, Acentic Asia will bring Acentic’s in-room entertainment Hotel TV system and Internet connectivity technology to the Asian hospitality market, along with consulting and support. The office will serve international hotel brands and individual local properties with personalized attention to Asian market needs, such as localisation (translations), and support for local digital technology like Hong Kong’s DMB-T over coax and IP.

At the moment, there is no major player in the iTV market in Asia and the majority of the hotels do not have a digital iTV system or even provide digital TV services to their rooms. This is an opportunity for hotels to gain a competitive advantage by offering their guests today’s connected lifestyle.

Hong Kong, here we come!