Technology has already reached all areas of tourism and one of them is a hotel room. In new designs we have to think about smart and comfortable rooms, the more time a client spends in a hotel, the more money they will spend.
The rooms have to maintain the value of comfort and traditional rest, but adapted to the fact that new travelers increasingly need alternative and highly technological spaces; It is not worth putting only a USB plug, a Smart TV or a lock that can be opened from the mobile phone.
The smart room is already a reality in many establishments, especially aimed at the business traveler who is connected with multiple devices and that allows us to make their stays run in a much more functional way. It is very important to adapt the technology to the design of the establishments, from the beginning of the concept, to the realization of the electrical plans.
We must study all the parts of the room and surprise our clients with a smart touch, it is necessary to create hotels in which intelligence makes us create a continuous box of surprises that clients did not have when they made their reservations .
Examples of where we can act:
Smart beds have already arrived, although highly developed technology has not really been applied yet. This is based on using mechanical actions by voice, although with really interesting and curious features. At the latest Rebuild construction fair, which took place last September in Madrid, bed systems that can be connected with Alexa or Google Assistant are already a reality: using voice and certain commands to raise and lower the bed or even make "coverage" by means of a voice command from the chambermaid or the housekeeper.
There are beds that incorporate a mobile application with which sleep monitoring can be carried out (with reports that are sent to the smartphone), from the heart rate, to the respiratory rate or, even, if the bed allows it, adjusting the temperature to the person's body.
You have to study all the parts of the room and surprise our clients with a smart touch
The implementation of voice systems in hotel rooms using a smart speaker to connect all the devices that we have in the room and that can be connected by the client is already a reality.
For my mother-in-law, who is over 80 years old, we have installed a voice system in the village house, so that she remembers the time to take the pills and also plays relaxing music when she starts ironing. "If technology can be applied on a day-to-day basis in a town in emptied Spain, how can it not be used in all hotels"
The devices can also have a screen and can serve as an alarm clock on the nightstand or even have a transparent, mirror-type screen option, so we can see the news in the morning while we shave in the bathroom . In the village, the goatherd has had an IP camera for years with which he can see the goats without having to walk 2 kilometers every day.
It is necessary, of course, that the speaker be compatible with Alexa or Google Assistant, in order to be able to use all the smart devices used by the client in the room by voice. It can be used to play music, inform us of the weather forecast, the news and many other things.
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Imagine how comfortable it can be when we are in bed and just by using our voice the doors are closed blinds, curtains or blinds in our room. Even that, depending on the mood of the person or the time slot, the blinds adapt to the comfort of the user. Or imagine that the blind is slightly opening, at the same time that the alarm clock sounds, while relaxing music plays when you wake up.
We can program all the usual actions that customers perform in the room using voice commands and create routines, both for the curtains and the blinds. In addition, we could even control the atmosphere we want when entering the room from our mobile.
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Smart bulbs
Smart bulbs
Light and bulbs are one of the most important parts of the feeling of well-being in a room, being able to generate all kinds of environments depending on our needs.
We can turn them on and off whenever we want, giving more or less intensity, changing the colors, in many cases, and even accompanying their turning off so that it occurs little by little and thus accompanying us when we are falling asleep. You could also connect the lights with the intensity of the movies or television programs.
Of course, all the routines of the clients will have to be parameterized, being able to do them with other actions such as the blinds, the music or the alarm clock.
Smart pillows
There are two types of smart pillows, those that are programmed from the factory and those that make the ones we have become smart pillows. These pillows can monitor our sleep, act as personal audio, others serve to help wake up, and there are even some that have functions to prevent snoring or at least to reduce it as much as possible.
Smart air purifier
Air quality is essential for health and for a perfect rest in a hotel room. Smart air purifiers can provide the experience of totally healthy room air and have the ability to monitor its quality, to know how to discern between periods of on and off, updating this information every few seconds.
There are some purifiers that are capable of eliminating 99.9% of particles that are harmful to us, so customers will be fully protected, knowing that the air they breathe in the room is a fundamental part of their rest and well-being .
Example of Hilton Smart Room Features Photo Hilton
Smart bedside lamp
Smart bedside lamps can be really interesting once we get ready, for example, to read a book before going to sleep, since we can adjust the lighting thanks to the voice or create a routine with which the device already knows what intensity to put on.
We can manage the intensity of the ceiling light bulbs and the different wall lights by voice, generating the comfort of avoiding movements within the room. The most interesting thing is to have a lamp that is intelligent to manage it according to our needs.
Star projectors
One of the most interesting things for children and not so children are new experiences inside a hotel and discovering things that are not usually considered habitual residences. Going to a hotel is an adventure and this type of device can be placed in certain smart room categories, creating a spectacular atmosphere and adding dynamism to the rest experience. Different areas or rooms of the ceilings of the room can be illuminated, showing stars, constellations or comets.
Many of these star projectors are compatible with Alexa and Google Assistant, so we can control them with our voices for more spectacularity.
Smart plug
One of the most necessary smart products in the room are smart plugs, since with them we can control any device remotely through a mobile application or by voice and they can charge more quickly the devices connected to the different plugs in the room.
We can create extremely interesting routines, such as if the room temperature reaches a certain temperature, the air conditioning turns on automatically, or if the windows are opened in summer when the air conditioning is working, they turn off to not increase consumption.
There are hundreds of devices with which to make our room smarter. There are motels in the United States where the bill for charging the electric car abroad is automatically included when the customer leaves.
This has only just begun, since artificial intelligence functionalities in hotels have a growing development and are based on improving the customer experience and comfort. The use of the smartphone allows you to change the television channels, to fill the bath water with the desired temperature or to program the temperature of the toilet bowl so as not to be cold or hot in a mountain hotel or a beach hotel.
*Jesús Menéndez López is CEO of Hotel Mystery Guest. He has an MBA in Hotel Management and Management from the Polytechnic University of Madrid and has studied at UCC (University College Cork, Ireland).