Stylish technology... that works

Kirsten Molle
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By Kirsten Mollé, ProTempIT

One of the things that I enjoy when travelling – whether on business or on holiday – is ‘discovering’ my hotel room and making it my own.

Depending on how tired you are after your journey, it can be great fun working out how to get the TV into a position where you can watch it from the only chair in the room, figuring out how to turn all the lights out without having to get out of bed, or working out what that little box with the blinking lights tucked away behind the mini-bar does – and whether you can unplug it to use the power socket for your laptop without setting alarm bells ringing somewhere in the hotel’s security department.

From time to time, though, a hotel room comes along that shows that these somewhat typical problems of integrating technology into room design can be avoided and that the end result can be a stylish product that really works. These rooms show that the whole can indeed be greater than the sum of its parts.

These guest rooms demonstrate that if brought together early on in the design process, a natural synergy between interior design and technology can exist. Both are aiming to achieve something that looks great, works well and adds value to the product.

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Also, both have to take into account what the guest/user would want to do and how they would typically go about doing it. From ergonomic design to intuitive user interfaces – both disciplines will be judged by how easy it is to make the room work.

There are some notable examples of hotels that have achieved this integration to great acclaim, at both ends of the star-scale, creating innovative and exciting guest rooms and public areas by leveraging the integration between design and new entertainment, lighting and in-room automation technologies. In addition, integrated design offers operating efficiencies by tying in energy-saving options and effective staff communication devices.

So, if technology and interior design are such natural partners in the hotel product development process, why are there so many guest rooms that are excellent examples of technology being uncomfortably shoe-horned into a space, making my life as a guest somewhat miserable (and distracting me from the parts of the design that do work)?

The design process, quite rightly, sits very high on the agenda of any owner, as it defines the framework and detail of the product that will be built. A huge amount of time, effort and resource is invested into this process to ensure that the new property will be special, and offer a unique value proposition.

Unfortunately, us IT consultants are typically not a recognised part of this process and usually end up being a sub-contractor to the M&E package. While the relieved cry, ‘Hurrah – IT is finally on board’, from the collective design team does make me feel welcome, it usually also means that the design process is already as good as finished.

As a result, we are not part of the initial design phase but have to focus on squeezing technology in where it can be made to fit – which is often not where it should be. Surface trunking for TV cabling, cable spaghetti around the desk and lack of accessible power sockets are a dead give-away that the integration of technology was an afterthought.

In order to enable the synergies between technology and design, a fundamental rethink of the role of IT in the design and development of hotel room products is required. Technology is a discipline in its own right and should no longer be tucked away somewhere in another contractor package.

It includes not just the traditional ‘plumbing’ skills of designing network structures for the risers; it also requires creativity, a deep understanding of how technology can be applied into a given context, and in-depth product knowledge. In turn, this means that IT consultants have a role to play in more than one part of a project.

They should be involved in the design phase, as discussed in this article; in the build-phase, where regular reviews ensure that the design intent is realised; and in the hotel opening phase when the rich functionality of the systems is turned into real ROI by ensuring that the sales team have good product knowledge. The above needs to be expressed in the definition of the scope of works for the IT consultant, to ensure that suitable skill sets are included in each phase of the development project – not just at the end.

In addition, the timing of the awarding of the IT consultant package will need to be reviewed – halfway through construction is most certainly too late.

As those outstanding new hotel rooms show – the result of getting this right can be truly amazing. Stylish technology that works can definitely be done!

Kirsten Mollé is director of ProTempIT Ltd and can be contacted at Kirsten.Molle@Protempit.com.