INNOVATIONS &
INNOVATIONS & TECHNOLOGIES Candice DeLuca CMO, Exceptional Innovation CREATING GUEST EXPERIENCES THAT MATTER With Quadriga Worldwide acquisition, Exceptional Innovation (EI) is changing the hospitality market with next-generation guest technologies and enhanced global services. THE COMBINATION OF THE EI COMPANIES INCLUDING QUADRIGA HAS ENABLED US TO BECOME A GLOBAL TECHNOLOGY SERVICE PROVIDER THAT ENHANCES THE ENTERTAINMENT EXPERIENCE, MAXIMIZES GUEST ENGAGEMENT AND SATISFACTION, AND INCREASES REVENUE WHILE DELIVERING OPERATIONAL EFFICIENCIES FOR HOTELS. Since the takeover by Exceptional Innovation BV last year, how has business been progressing, and why was this such a major step on your road to greater success? We have completed most of the integration work across the business over the past 6 months and have now started to focus on the implementation of global best practices across the groups to maximize efficiencies across all areas of the business. Our goal continues to be to expand our reach and offerings to give hoteliers one global vendor for all of their hospitality technology needs. The combination of the EI companies including Quadriga has enabled us to become a global technology service provider that enhances the entertainment experience, maximizes guest engagement and satisfaction, and increases revenue while delivering operational efficiencies for hotels. We now can provide hoteliers with globally managed services and new technologies to offer comprehensive solutions for the hospitality industry. Quadriga has just signed a partnership with NSC Global. What does this mean for hoteliers? Quadriga has partnered with NSC Global to further increase our reach to clients needing support in a consistent, repeatable quality of delivery. The SMARTREPORT COMMERCIAL CONTENT
Hotel & Tourism SMARTreport #30 2016 Summer Edition 53 strategic partnership with NSC Global is not only important for Quadriga’s independent hotel clients but also for the multinational and global brand partners as NSC Global is a multi-national technology services and infrastructure provider that helps clients across 180 countries in over 40 languages. This partnership gives Quadriga a capable and trusted partner to help our clients run their businesses more time and cost efficiently while further extending the European services and support centre already in place today. As part of the partnership, Quadriga also aims to expand the 24/7, multilingual help desk service with seven days a week on-site support in English and the local language. People often think of Quadriga as being “just” an in-room entertainment provider. But you’re going a lot further than this now. What are the other kinds of solutions offered today? Exceptional Innovation is offering complete end-to-end solutions to the hospitality industry, including in-room technologies, public space solutions, content services, WI- FI and network services and a professional services organization to support hoteliers during every step of their guests’ experience. We aim to support hoteliers as they take their guests through the travel journey not only during their in-room stay but also with technologies that provide pre and post stay interactions and with integrated mobile solutions and digital signage solutions in public and meeting spaces. We are also integrating newer technologies like wearables and how they will change hospitality technology interactions in the future. At HITEC we will be showcasing our latest hardware products including our new set-top box with built in streaming capability along with our hospitality technology platform that addresses Television, Mobile, Internet and Digital Signage. What are some of the trends you are seeing in hotel technology this year? With the global pipeline of hotel rooms reaching 2 million rooms, there is a lot of potential for incorporating new hotel technology solutions based on the latest trends. The top trends we see continue to be guest-facing mobile applications and solving the hotel bandwidth challenge with the addition of streaming technologies and guests bringing multiple connected devices on property. In a recent study from Hotel Internet Services, 76.8% of guests would prefer to stream their own content rather than watch Video on Demand and 67% would download an app to allow them to control their hotel television with their own device. As far as in-room technologies, as over-thetop technologies take over and displace traditional broadcast TV and VOD, the shift to OTT content will allow hotels to save a significant amount of money each month and provide the infrastructure for guests to consume whatever TV shows and / or movies that they desire via the guest’s mobile device and the Internet. This will enable hoteliers to look at other revenue generating or operational efficiency based opportunities for superior guest experience and allocate dollars to spend on new technologies like mobile key and room lock technology or interactive marketing based on data analysis applications. How is Exceptional Innovation embracing these trends to support hoteliers? Exceptional Innovation is staying at the forefront of these trends with our mobile and in-room technology allowing for streaming capability, apps for mobile control of the television experience, and Wi-Fi services to help with allocation of bandwidth as hotel and guest needs change throughout the day, week or month. Our goal is to enhance the guest experience through technology while giving hoteliers the ability to manage all of their interactions in one portal system through aggregate integration. THE TOP TRENDS WE SEE CONTINUE TO BE GUEST- FACING MOBILE APPLICATIONS AND SOLVING THE HOTEL BANDWIDTH CHALLENGE WITH THE ADDITION OF STREAMING TECHNOLOGIES AND GUESTS BRINGING MULTIPLE CONNECTED DEVICES ON PROPERTY. 480 Olde Worthington Road Suite 350 Westerville, OH 43082, USA Phone +1 614 890 6090 info@exceptionalinnovation.com www.exceptionalinnovation.com
