There was an interesting post today on HOTELS that is a good follow up to my post what technology do you expect from your hotel?. Hotel Sax Chicago, apparently dubbed "Hotel Microsoft" (who knew?), has unveiled some current and future technologies from Xbox ready rooms to an entertainment lounge to in-room touch screens that control lighting and temperature.
As I was reading the article I was rethinking my statement that hotels cannot expect to implement better technology than the customer has at home. After all, I don't have an Xbox (or any other video game unit) and most of the frequent travelers I know don't either. I also don't have touch screens to control my home amenities and probably won't for a foreseeable future. Hotel Sax Chicago will most likely have better technology than almost any guest, and their point is they will draw guests because of it (or they hope).
But the reality is the in-room touch screens are only in the presidential suites and more of the hotel's rooms have normal technology for a starting rate of $450/night.
When at some point in the future the cost of the "marketing technology" becomes affordable enough to retrofit into every hotel room it will be affordable enough that the clients that pay to stay at Hotel Sax will have it in their own house.
Really what Hotel Sax is doing is marketing. Having these rooms is a marketing technique, and a good one, but really is not an initiative to provide every customer with a technology experience they cannot get at home. And in proving me right the Chicago Tribune said, "...that's why Microsoft is in Hotel Sax -- to let people live with and get used to unfamiliar technology so that they'll want it in their homes."
This post is one of many about the technology at Hotel Sax. If you read the ones from hospitality sites you will find a regular comment....customers want basic amenities and service delivered very well before they want touch screens in the room.
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