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PRODUCT SHOWCASE Clever Solutions Brandstand Products available from Best Buy Canada offers innovatively designed, user friendly connectivity products for the hospitality industry. The Cubie family of power/charging panels are designed to provide a clever solution to the lack of available outlets at the desk and the nightstand. CubieTime rethinks the guest room alarm clock by combining a single day alarm with power and charging. The Remie alarm clock provides an easy interface to wake, charge and play with convenient Bluetooth and USB music play-through and charging. Especially with smart TVs, guests need to be able to charge personal devices easily. Get Smart The CES SMART Solution combined with CES expertise can really help you! From picking the right TVs, remotely managing all aspects of the TV’s configuration, and the Rich Content Interactive Information your guests want, CES is your hospitalityspecialized decision partner. Electronic program guide, remote channel mapping, marketing, and compendiums. First-Rate Service Visions Electronics has been a leader in the consumer electronics industry for over 30 years — and there’s no project too big or small. The corporate focus is on delivering first-rate customer service and building lasting business relationships across the hospitality industry. The specialists at Visions Business Solutions work closely with you to offer the best solutions for your business needs and will help you stay within budget and complete your project on time. Premium Variety A range of Samsung Commercial TVs and Curved HTVs are available in a variety of sizes and options; each provides a premium viewing experience with slim, stylish displays. Features include USB cloning which lets users copy preferred settings to other TVs via remote and USB 2.0, which enables viewers to see images, play videos and record on external storage devices. A range of Samsung Curved HTVs are available as well. Hospitality Solutions Samsung LYNK REACH 3.0: Is a template solution that supports ads with live channels for broadcasting in public hotel areas, such as displays in lobbies and restaurants, making it easy for guests to get to know the local area better. It is a flexible, easy to use, and a low cost software solution for better managing and maintaining guestroom TV content. Guests can access a variety of information that the hotel wishes to project with an intuitive user interface. Just Like Home Samsung LYNK SINC 3.0: This content management solution allows guests to feel at home with premium content and applications. Using this solution, guests can have access to local information such as traffic, maps, tourist attractions, weather information, and even flight information. It offers a variety of connectivity options like All Share cast or DLNA Technology. You can stream any content from your mobile device to the TV, in the exact same way as you do in the comfort of your home. LED Newcomers LG Electronics Canada is introducing two new series of commercial-grade LED TVs featuring the latest Pro:Centric® platform, designed to deliver an enhanced, interactive guest-room experience. New models in the premium LY970H and LY750H Pro:Centric Smart IPTV series are super-slim direct-backlight LED TVs, featuring full HD display capabilities, interactive services support and LG EcoSmart technologies that support Java, Flash and HTML software. Pro:Centric technology, a standards-based applications platform designed to enable hotels to easily transmit up-to-the-minute information, introduces new ways for hotels to communicate with guests. Through their advanced platform design, the LY970H and LY750H series provide uniform services and functionality across both RF (radio frequency) and IP (Internet protocol) networks, enabling the TV to operate in both network types. These new hospitality TV series also support embedded integrated LG Pro:Idiom® digital rights management solution and MPEG-2/ MPEG-4 H.264 decoding for viewing of premium HD channels. This is something Brook Castelsky, vicepresident, resorts for the Oak Bay Marine Group, which owns Painters Lodge in Campbell River, understands well. “The access to activities is one of the main focuses of an Oak Bay Marine Group Resort; however, when entering a hotel room, the TVs are an important factor which creates the first impression,” says Castelsky. “I often recall an experiment completed by a colleague. This particular hotel fully renovated all of the rooms, however only the TVs were upgraded on one of the floors. It was interesting to note that guest satisfaction metrics were consistent between the rooms with full upgrades and the rooms where only the TVs were replaced. This helped inform our decision to start our reinvest with in-room technology.” Making the choice starts with a brandname. “A big thing for hoteliers is finding namebrand products — Samsung or LG — as this helps guest feel more at home because they probably have something similar at home,” says Liam Berezowsky, account manager for Visions Business Solutions. The reasoning is more practical than brandname recognition alone — people know how to use brands they are familiar with. “When their in-room TV is a Samsung, they intuitively understand how to use it and understand the seamless experience that Samsung delivers,” says James Politeski, president, Enterprise Business and COO, for Samsung Canada. Big names offer other advantages. Atlific Hotels know that guests want nothing less than high-definition when it comes to television clarity. Painters Lodge knows that televisions help create a first impression for guests when they enter room. “Hotels want a variety of sizes and models with the ability to interact with current solution providers,” says Berezowsky. “Hoteliers want a manufacturer who stands behind the products, easy to use and manage through a central control centre so they do not have their maintenance people spending a lot of time going room to room to set up or adjust.” Size matters, too. “For the most part, it is a minimum of a 32 inch, but we are starting to see the industry standard being 42 inch and higher,” says Chlebus, adding that the Sheraton in downtown Toronto is going to be the first with all 55-inch TVs. “They really think that is going to be a differentiator and a game changer to add to that experience when the guests walk into the room and say ‘wow.’ ” Part of that Wow factor is esthetic. “Sometimes hoteliers think about the size of the screen and picture quality; but it’s about much more than that - it’s about the overall fit, finish, and feel of the product, and it’s about the full solution hoteliers can expect from their technology partner,” says Politeski. “Now hotels are buying beautifully designed 40-inch, 46- inch, 55-inch, or even curved TVs that enhance the guest viewing experience and interior design of the room.” Tom Hocker from Best Buy for Business says Samsung and LG are the two major players in the hotel business today. “It comes down to esthetics and some may have preferences for whatever reasons.” A key question hoteliers need to consider, says Daignault, is whether to offer smart connection to tablets and mobile device via apps and WiFi or simply regular connection. The type of hotel you operate can help determine that factor. Ruggiero says that if guests are “paying a decent buck for a room rate, they want more.” And “more” means smart — the ease of the plug and play, connectivity from their laptop to the TV so they can watch Netflix or check facebook in a big screen rather than sitting at a laptop, he says. But this only one part of the smart TV experience. “Imagine a guest purchases a movie through their hotel TV but can choose to watch it on their tablet in the lobby bar or maybe the spa,” says Politeski. “Once a guest has paired their device to the TV, they can use it as a remote control, allowing them to stream video on demand using the hotel’s WiFi network.” Something of key importance with smart TVs is that once they are in place, more features and functionality can be added. For hoteliers, the biggest benefit is with marketing. 38 Western Hotelier Magazine Western Hotelier Magazine 39
“Smart TVs are a huge trend as this allows the hotel to also integrate digital signage content and turn the TV into a revenue-generating device,” says Berezowsky. “Hotels can set a welcome menu and add all their services onto the TV, eliminating the need for those expensive amenities books they print.” Before you start shopping, the requirements of your provider have to be considered. “Does their FTG [free to guest] provider have specific technical requirements, such as channel guide, channel mapping, encryption, interactive welcome screen,” says Daignault. “If they have VOD, what technical specification and encryption do they require?” Chelbus adds that hoteliers are evaluating whether they want the option of a payper-view system now or in the future. All of this raises questions about bandwidth. “We are moving into a newer age of television where all the sets require WiFi and they all need fairly broad bandwidth because the majority of hotels have fairly narrow bandwidth, and when you get a 100- room hotel and you get 80 rooms trying to download, everything is at a snails’ pace,” says Hocker, adding that hotels may have to look at charging for guests who want better WiFi. “It is not cheap to put full broad bandwidth into a hotel.” Daignault lists a few more considerations, such as the position of the TV — credenza or wall mount and swivel options to maximize visibility — as well as warranty and maintenance programs. Granted, all this comes with a price tag. “Hotels are generally purchasing these products for a minimum of five years, so it may be in their best interest to spend a few dollars more today so they do not have to spend more in the future.” says Berezowsky. “It gives them the technology they want today and allows them to keep pace with their competition for years to come.” Being ready for the future - Chlebus calls it “future proofing” and something he sees lately is early adopters moving toward “greener, sleeker, sexier, LED models.” “We are starting to see it now where hoteliers who were the first converters from tube TVs to flat screens in 2006-2007, they are looking at their TVs and saying they want a greener footprint, less energy consumption, a sexier feel to it,” says Chlebus. “We are about a year behind the U.S., but by 2016-2017, we are really going to see the market turn.” The interconnectivity of technology will also strengthen in coming years. “Hoteliers need to think about every experience their guests have with every TV and screen in their properties,” says Politeski. “It’s about their in-room TV, but it’s also about mobile check-in, video walls in the lobby, LFD screens in onsite restaurants and conference rooms. Hoteliers need a specialized solution that can efficiently manage these content services… a flexible business solution that is scalable, so it can grow and evolve with the growing demands of the guest.” What was science fiction a few years back is already well within reach — and that future connects to the TV. ● State of the Industry By Carrie Russell, Managing Director, HVS Courtesy of Shutterstock The Canadian lodging market had an exceptional year in 2014. For the first time in a decade, Canadian hoteliers experienced a year of strong RevPAR growth, expected to be six per cent higher than 2013. The country set a new record for RevPAR, driven by both a gain in occupancy and above-inflationary ADR growth. Supply growth was held in check by the closure or conversion of several large downtown hotels, which kept the net supply growth for the year to a historic low of 0.4 per cent. At the same time, demand is expected to have grown more than three per cent in 2014, resulting in a year-end occupancy just over the 65 per cent mark, surpassing the last national peak in 2007. The country has also sustained the strongest growth in the average room rate in 2014 since 2008, posting ADR growth above three per cent for the year. All market fundamentals were strong in 2014, and Canadian hoteliers were able to reap the benefits. Looking ahead to 2015, there is optimism regarding the performance of the country as a whole; however, some regions of the country face challenges. Some markets have an influx of new supply on the horizon, and expectations have been scaled back for markets that rely heavily on demand from the oil sector in the wake of the recent drop in oil prices. The Conference Board of Canada projects a 2.7 per cent increase in the national GDP in 2015, up from the growth of two per cent projected in 2014, which bodes well for hotel demand. Another positive sign is the expectation of stronger growth in overnight visitation, which the Conference Board projects will increase 2.7 per cent across the country in 2015, up from the growth of 1.9 per cent that had been projected for 2014. Contributing to this growth is the major events and conferences that will attract additional visitors in 2015, particularly the Pan Am Games in Toronto. Given these indicators, we project nationwide demand to grow 2.5 per cent in 2015. On the supply side, 2015 will be the first year in several that substantial supply increases hamper occupancy growth. There are currently 8,389 rooms under construction in Canada, which is an increase of eight per cent year-over-year. With 40 Western Hotelier Magazine Western Hotelier Magazine 41
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