Stanford Hotels Launches Revolutionary In-Room Technology
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Stanford Hotels Launches Revolutionary In-Room Technology
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Category: Worldwide -
This is a press release selected by our editorial committee and published online for free on 2006-04-14
Stanford Hotels Corp. has launched GuestLink(TM), a first-of-its-kind in-room service that lets guests easily connect all of their electronic gadgets and devices to a 42-inch HDTV flat screen.
This state-of-the-art technology is the most revolutionary in-room development to occur in five decades, according to Clyde Guinn, senior vice president operations for San Francisco-based Stanford Hotels Corp.
"Not since the late 1950s when televisions and air conditioners were installed in hotels has an innovation come along that so dramatically transforms the way guests will spend time in their rooms," says Guinn.
This new GuestLink(TM) system will radically change the amount of time spent as well as the ways people use their hotel rooms, adds Guinn, whose company recently unveiled the groundbreaking technology at its Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel.
Until now, hotel guests were hard-pressed to find hard-wiring that would allow them to access from the comfort of their rooms all of the games, music, business tools and entertainment content they need for leisure pursuits and business productivity.
"Guests can now plug their iPod, laptop computer, DVD, camcorder, digital camera or Xbox directly into our exclusive GuestLink panel and spend hours viewing images on the super-sized screen or listening to audio on surround-sound speakers," says Greg Langweg, general manager of the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport Hotel, which annually attracts thousands of tech savvy travelers from around the globe.
"To my knowledge, this is the first working hotel in the U.S. to incorporate such an advanced electronic connectivity system into its rooms," says Langweg.
Manufactured for Stanford Hotels Corp. by Arizona-based Communication Integrators, Inc., (CII) the built-in GuestLink(TM) module system offers guests a variety of options, including: charging mobile electronic devices; accessing the Internet via high-speed wired network; and viewing movies, photos and computer documents on the large screen TV.
According to Communication Integrators' CEO J. Glynn Gross, there are few plug-in systems like this currently being used in residential or commercial applications anywhere on the planet.
"CII's GuestLink(TM) enables Stanford to be way out ahead of the curve on this technology," says Gross, whose company late last year completed the technical installation in 155 new guest rooms added to the Hilton Washington Dulles Airport property.
And for the first time in many decades, he says, the hotel industry is leaping ahead of the public as an early adopter and champion of an emerging technology.
Stanford's Guinn predicts that during the next five to eight years, almost all new hotel rooms built or older ones remodeled will include a similar plug-in feature.
"This in-room technology will quickly become the next 'must have' amenity," says Guinn, noting that his company expects to add GuestLink in approximately 1,700 rooms in four additional properties from Hawaii to North Carolina that will be undergoing major remodeling efforts this year alone.
He compares this trend-setting technology to the strong consumer demand earlier this decade that prompted the hotel industry to provide high-speed Internet service in most hotel rooms, as well as Wi-Fi connections in public spaces like lobbies and restaurants.
Late last year, the 449-room Hilton Dulles Airport completed a massive $40 million remodeling and expansion project, which included installing GuestLink(TM)'s customized, built-in consoles, stylish desks and plasma TVs into its 155 new rooms at a cost of approximately $6,000 each.
The upgrade has already paid off according to the many positive responses received to date from pioneering in-room users, says General Manager Langweg.
"Guests aren't frustrated that their electronic gadgets and gear can't be easily used in their rooms," he says. "In fact, even the most tech-savvy users are blown away with this new GuestLink system."
In addition to enhancing guests' overall in-room experience, the technology also may boost a hotel's bottom line.
"Guests will check in, plug in and stay in," says Guinn, who estimates that guests will increase their in-room time and room service usage, as well as extend their stay.
The 30-year hotel veteran says his company will invest more than $1 million this year to plug GuestLink(TM) into rooms at its Sheraton Gateway San Francisco Airport Hotel, Radisson Waikiki Prince Kuhio Hotel, Sheraton Albuquerque Uptown and Hilton Charlotte Center City.
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