360DigitalInfluence

I got to thinking about the best-practices hotels should keep in mind when experimenting with consumer-facing technology.   This is what I came up with:

• Make sure it works - this is the cost-of-entry
• Make it simple (and most times, quick)
• Make it contextual to the hotel experience – the technology experience should have relevance to the guest’s stay
• Work with the right partners to bring your vision to life
• Help people fight the loneliness of business travel
• Make it surprising and fun
• Don’t be afraid to experiment until you find something that really resonates with guests (but always remember the previous six bullets)

From 2004-2007 I logged hundreds of thousands of air miles and hundreds of nights in hotels.   While I spend much more time these days on terra firma, I still try to flag blog posts about fun/engaging consumer-facing technology experiences in hotel environments.

I’ll briefly discuss a few things I’ve found (thanks in large part to Springwise), but would be very interested to hear from the road warriors out there – tell me about all the interesting things I’m missing.

Interactive Surface Technology at Sheraton:   Guests at Sheraton hotels in Boston, Chicago, New York, San Francisco and Seattle can use Microsoft’s Surface technology to access entertainment content, local tourist information and information about other Sheraton properties worldwide.   Springwise recently documented the collaboration.
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Westin Chicago Designs Special Rooms to Fight Jet Lag:   Also from Springwise, Westin Hotels and Philips have partnered to design a concept room specially aimed at helping jet-lagged travelers combat sleep troubles.   Amenities include Philips’ new blue-light ActiViva lamps, a light therapy box at the work desk station, a eucalyptus shower fizzer in the room’s “Heavenly Shower,” a guided-meditation sleep TV program, a special room-service menu and specially designed local running maps.
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New York City’s Pod Hotel connects guests with each other before arrival:   Once guests have booked their reservations at this hip Manhattan spot, they are sent a link to the hotel’s PodCulture blog and a user ID, which allows them to connect and interact with others who will be there at the same time.
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Sheraton (again) Invites People to Experience Their Brand In An Unconventional Way:   As part of their Global Out of Office Day, Sheraton invited New Yorkers to work from Central Park, where it recreated its new Link@Sheraton lounges [a collaboration with Microsoft to infuse useful technology into its hotels].
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W Hotels Gives Guests a Quiet Place for a Cell Phone Call:   Something I am particularly proud of since I was Nokia’s point person for the partnership with W.   Simple concept - a modern take on the phone booth, combining Nokia NSeries technology/connectivity with W’s design sensibility.   Visit PSFK to read a short interview with Carlos Gomez de Llarena [the designer from R/GA with whom we worked on the booth design and interaction].

Note: This post is republished with edits from the original on Flagged For Follow Up.