more on RFID in hospitality

A good question came in as a comment from David Wold and I thought I'd take a stab at it in a post versus just as a comment.

Comment: How accurate do those things get with location? Meaning, to find someone in the building, they would probably need bulkier active RFID chips and not the smallest cheapest passive ones. That might bulk things up but still be OK. But can they pinpoint location? From what I know, they can tell you that something is present or in the area but not exactly where it is. For example, with inventory, you can get the full contents of a pallet at your receiving dock in an instant but you may not know which boxes have which parts without opening them up to look. For the spa, you might know Chrystal is in the sauna, but if there are 5 other women in there, it might be hard to know which one is her. Plus the employees would have to walk around with geeky looking receivers to find the women (getting hotter, no now its getting colder). Maybe a combination of a longer range active RFID with a shorter range passive RFID to roughly find and then zero in on the client...

First, the RFID chip size is actually very small and the active RFID chip fits in a wristband quite nicely. Here is an example of a reusable wristband from Precision Dynamics Corp, a leading provider of RFID technology to hospitality venues. These are durable, waterproof, and can be personalized in color and logo. Very easy for the spa guest to keep track of and return. The total cost of the band is fairly low being reusable.

In the specific example of implementing location services for a spa knowing the "exact" location of the guest is not really necessary. The guest is generally confined to a fixed space and will be in either a public room (sauna, locker room, etc.), private area (massage room), or unmonitored area (hallway). Access to these areas would be tracked by an RFID scanner that captures the time a guest enters and leaves each room. As spa guests do not generally linger in hallways a venue would not need to implement an RFID system that was constantly scanning for guest location in all areas. The staff could simply validate the last room a guest entered to find their current location. If a guest's last tracked location was exiting a room then it is likely they are already on their way to the next appointment.

Also, if the spa captures the guest's picture it is not a requirement for staff to carry a hand held device to access the guest picture/profile or location. Since the spa is generally a confined area and staff is usually coming from a location with a computer, they could review the guest picture and schedule before leaving to remind them of their next appointment. Another operational scenario is to have staff print the guest's itinerary with picture so they could identify them by name when requested to provide a reminder of their appointment.

however, this comment brings up a viable option of having real time location services with RFID and how that may change the guest experience, as well as project cost. I'll tackle this question in the next post so stay tuned.

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