Taking Hospitality to the Next Level

WITH THE launch of voice assistant -enabled smart rooms, Park Inn By Radisson New Delhi IP Extension has become the pioneers in the world hospitality to bring in complete automation of service requests and virtual control of TV & lighting fixtures. This is the first property in India to provide an app-free in-room voice assistant, powered by WebRTC technology.

Six studio rooms in the hotel have been fitted with Amazon Alexa’s Echo Dot devices and the services are divided into three parts- accessibility, entertainment and hotel services. The studio rooms integrated with this new technology have been configured in a partnership by a Bangalore based software firm, Kamakshi Clouds. BW Hotelier spoke to M.A. Kanan, Director, Kamakshi Clouds and Saurav Dutta, General Manager, Park Inn by Radisson about these AI services.

“This Amazon Alexa’s Echo Dot automation was completed in the month of Nov- Dec 2017. However, it was installed much before the amazon Eco-Dot launched itself in the country. In our futuristic plans, guests can control the movement of the curtains, air conditioning system, the door locks and also the movement of the TV. The TV will automatically rotate towards the person whether it is sofa or bed,” Kanan told us.

Being installed for a month now, the hotel efficiency has improved as it reduces the time of performance. Additionally, guests can now request for services such as room cleaning, wake-up calls, laundry, in-room dining, and room check-out by speaking to the smart device. Speaking about the cost efficiency, Dutta said, “Even if we increase the ARR (Average Room Rate) by 10- 15 percent, we will get the ROI by 30 to 40 days of occupancy.”

According to Kanan, Getting internet to the television without changing it has been a real revolution which has been done for the first time globally. “There is a device which is attached to the TV which runs on a Linux environment converting the TV to the Linux computer,” he added.

Once checked-in, guests can use their mobile devices to play videos and listen to music, such as Amazon Prime Video, Netflix, and YouTube, beamed onto the TV set. Guests’ smartphones can also be used as a remote control for the television and set-top box. Their phones can double as a keyboard and mouse, turning the TV screen into a computer interface.

The hotel also plans to expand the AI services to other rooms according to the feedbacks.