At the InterContinental Miami hotel, guests in the lobby can call up the drink menu and flag down a server to order using a touch screen on the coffee tables. The Park Hyatt Tokyo and Park Hyatt Seoul give guests free access to over 2,300 international newspapers on their smartphones or tablets using the hotel?s Wi-Fi network and an app called PressReader.
Hotels around the world are using technology in new ways, with the goal of speeding up or personalizing more services for guests.
David-Michel Davies, president of the Webby Media Group, said he visited Internet companies around the world each year for the Webby Awards, which honor excellence on the Internet. He said he had found that hotels were using technology as a substitute for human hospitality.
Instead of the staff at the front desk offering advice on where to go for dinner, guests may be lent an iPad loaded with maps and suggestions for local restaurants and sightseeing. A hand-held device in the room might control the television, blinds and temperature, replacing the role of the bellman who would describe how the features in the room work when he dropped off a guest?s luggage. ?Hotels are transforming service into a digital concept,? Mr. Davies said.
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Source: Julie Weed (2013). The ?Smart? Trend in Hotels, The New York Times?http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/23/business/electronic-smarts-at-hotels-attract-guests.html?_r=0 published Apr 22, 2013. Viewed Apr 25, 2013,