Check in the smarter way

You've seen the smartphone, the smart car and even smart televisions. Now take a look at the smart hotel room.

In the struggle to cater for ever more tech-savvy customers and to bring the latest technology into hotels, technology manufacturers are queuing up to sell the latest gizmos to aspirational hotel chains.

Rahul Salgia, is the chief executive and majority owner of Digivalet - a high-tech system that allows guests to order services and alter room settings directly from an iPad located in their room.

The system not only allows guests to switch room lights on and off, open and close curtains, open the door and set the air conditioning at the flick of a finger, it also allows them to watch television, read their own choice of newspaper, surf the net and play music and movies.

They can even order room service and book onward flights, view the bill and check out.

"This is going to become the one interface the guest will require for all his needs," Mr Salgia says. "The whole world is changing. There are a lot of things you want and a lot of things you don't want. But as the technology changes we all change. In a few years you won't be able to survive comfortably without a smartphone.

"Can you imagine for a 300-room hotel, every day you have 100 guests coming in. Of those 100 guests, probably 70 are addicted to the latest technology. Now their expectation from a room is not that of an old world room. They expect the room to be smart. So either you can make the room smarter or not. It's your choice."

Already, 12 super-luxury hotels such as the Armani Hotel in the Burj Khalifa and the Torch Hotel in Doha, Qatar, have taken up the service hoping that by using the technology, they can stay one step ahead of fierce competition at the top end of the market. As a result, Digivalet is already up and running in 4,000 hotel rooms in the Middle East and India - something Mr Salgia attributes to the region's love of technology and high levels of service.

The company says it is now rolling the concept out to Africa and China with the multiple languages offered in Digivalet's display a big attraction.

But at an eye-watering US$4,000 a room, hotels hoping to install the technology will need deep pockets.

"It's actually not that much money when you compare it to the cost of building a hotel these days," Mr Salgia says. "These people are paying probably $200,000 to $300,000 a room. So we are saying this is a capital expenditure of less than 1.5 to 2 per cent."

The gadget works via a smart box installed into a hidden part of the room such as a cupboard. The box then connects with the iPad, allowing the guest to change settings. The box is programmed to connect only with the allocated iPad, preventing other guests from switching off other people's lights. And anyone tempted to take the iPad with them should be aware that a Digivalet iPad is programmed to trigger an alarm if it is removed.

The brainchild of Mr Salgia, a self-confessed technology addict with a passion for engineering, the service is supported by a team of technicians and boffins based at the company's head office in Indore, central India.

But is all this just an expensive fad for the trend-conscious strata of super-luxury hotels or are we really seeing something which could spread further?

Mr Salgia is adamant that his product is set to go bigger as the company is negotiating a deal with a larger, more mainstream hotel operator partner.

"We are in talks with a very large partner," he says, grinning. "The talks are still in the nascent stages. We are looking at coming up with a solution that would have the potential of going out to a market a hundred times bigger than Digivalet. If it goes ahead the product would go to a much bigger market."

Watch this space.

lbarnard@thenational.ae

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