Enhancing the Guest Experience
A first impression counts and no more so than in a hotel. From first stepping into the lobby to walking through the corridors and entering a bedroom, a guest is evaluating the ambience, its look and feel and importantly how comfortable and welcoming the hotel is. The BMS can play an important role in improving environmental conditions for hotel guests as well as reducing the operating and maintenance costs for hotel owners and operators.
Part of improving the wellbeing and comfort of guests is placing control in their hands. Giving them the opportunity to change the temperature, air conditioning or even lighting within a space to suit their own requirements and maintain a comfortable environment.
The provision of a high quality and easy to use user interface that enables guests to understand what the current conditions are and how to adjust them is important, whether it be wall-mounted or via an app on their smartphone. For example, Distech Controls has just launched the new Allure UNITOUCH™, which is an easy to operate device that can be accessed and operated using its high resolution 3.5” capacitive touch screen or wirelessly from a smartphone over Bluetooth®. Users can view and adjust environmental settings to their requirements, this includes fine-tuning the temperature and fan speed settings as well as controlling the light levels and adjusting the sunblinds. Everything can be done via this one user interface making it extremely simple for guests to navigate.
The type of device is more than a room controller, it is a revolutionary way of interacting with a space and works in conjunction with the new Personify App to provide users with an even higher level of control from the touch of a button.
Although the comfort and wellbeing of guests are increasingly important issues, energy efficiency still remains high on the agenda for hoteliers. However, these two elements can be interlinked.
With the Distech Controls Allure UNITOUCH, users will see an innovative ECO-Vue Leaf Pattern on the interface, which graphically indicates energy consumption in real time to promote an occupant’s energy-conscious behaviour. Occupants are encouraged to have greener habits with the ECO-Vue Leaf Pattern while reducing energy costs. As more leaves appear, greater energy efficiency is being achieved, while fewer leaves will encourage the occupant to take corrective action to optimize the system’s environmental performance.
Utilising room control devices such as the Allure UNITOUCH, also gives hotel owners and operators to a vast amount of data about the building. It can monitor and analyse occupancy data, allowing the settings to be changed and updated whenever an occupant is in the space. Different scenes can also be configured for bedrooms, meeting rooms and lobby areas, which require very different environmental settings.
The data can also be analysed to understand what rooms are being occupied in order to streamline cleaning rotas or even ensure the right amount of breakfast is prepared based on the number of guests. This all adds up to increased operational efficiencies for a hotel as well as cost savings.
The guest experience is vital to the success of a hotel. The BMS has always been an important element when it comes to monitoring and controlling operational and environmental conditions within a hotel, but it also has the ability to help guests to feel more comfortable during their stay.
