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Disney is banking on them to pull in a new generation raised on video games and iPod Touches, while delivering cost savings, managing crowds and delivering valuable insight into customer preferences.

mobile phone app that lets visitors reserve firework- and parade-viewing areas, set up a meeting with Mickey or pick rides so as to skip the line. In addition,

the band will gather information about a guest's behavior that could be key to even more personalized experiences in the future

total cost of the project at $800 million to $1 billion.

Today the company is facing a world where most people walking around its parks have a handheld, Internet-connected computer begging to draw their attention away from the immersive, and lucrative, experience at hand.

Hotels such as the Las Vegas Aria at CityCenter provide RFID (radio frequency identification) keys that unlock the room door when flashed over a sensor.

London's Ecclestone Square Hotel -- as well as featuring in-wall docking and charging points for guest's devices -- provides visitors with an in-room iPod2 to play with, and a library of 3D Blu-rays (and accompanying 3D eyewear) to watch on the room's 46-inch television.

Doggrell says that many larger hotel groups, such as Starwood Hotels and Resorts, are increasingly investing in apps for the mobile market, which allow users to find nearby hotels and check their room rates

Today, the average diner is more sophisticated in every way.

You will be able to change your menu on a daily basis and even several times a day if you choose to

ablets are also environmentally friendly. You will be able to stop printing paper copies that kill trees and to stop adding to the overwhelming state of waste from printer cartridge

You might add games for children or offer games that will connect other patrons to compete against each other in a spirited quiz or puzzle.

Using iPads as menus will bring in more customers and improve profits in the end

you will be ensuring the success of your future.

Less is more

Why are you adding connectivity panels so the guest can tether their device to the TV, when most are very comfortable at either holding it in their hand (like a book) or prefer to connect it wirelessly?

To understand what the guest really wants and needs: STOP, LOOK and LISTEN!

What travellers want in hotel technology

Super-fast, reliable and suitably priced Internet access

A well-lit room with simple controls

Power sockets

Temperatures that can be easily controlled

A place to work

And as for the TV, include 24-hour news channels, sports channels and some entertaining TV channels.

Actually, you can summarize what guests want from a hotel room with three Cs: 1. Clean2. Comfortable 3. Connected

They just need the tech to work

What does this mean to YOU, the hotelier?In my opinion, going forward, guests will start to question why they should pay for this tech when they don’t need it, don’t want it and, most importantly, don’t use it.

A trendy piece of tech is no longer an enticement to make a guest change allegiance from one hotel to another. A B&O stereo or an iPod dock is not a deal breaker, but free Wi-Fi and a free mini-bar can be.

And besides, the lifespan of these toys is very short—12 to 18 months tops—before they become relegated to the old-version league. Can you really afford to swap out gizmos that fast?

ng station and al

5) Mirror televisions

4) Convenient power sources

a connectivity panel which enables content from a laptop, digital camera or MP3 to be viewed/listened to via the television so they don’t have to keep recharging their batteries.

arm clock

6) Lighting and climate control

s weather gauges on its in-room control panel,

7) RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) door lock for keyless entry to a hotel room and other areas of the hotel is becoming more popular in hotels across the world.

use any brand of mobile phone to gain access to their hotel room

.  Face recognition key locks and LCD screens connected to a digital camera to let guests know instantly who’s outside their door

8 ) Energy management systems

A combination of energy-efficient air conditioning, a rainwater harvesting system and low energy lighting can reduce a hotel’s carbon footprint by 75 per cent compared to the average establishment.

9) Guest sensors

10) And, finally, technology to rotate a Croatian hotel once every day is being explored to give every guest a sea view during their stay. Not viable for every hotel, but boy would it help you stand out from the crowd.

Mirror televisions are more commonly found in bathrooms, saunas and swimming pools at luxurious hotels.  They are equipped with high definition technology, digital tuners and touch screen functionality.  In fact, there were some impressive Mirror TVs being demonstrated at the recent CES in Las Vegas.

(wired and wi-fi) in hotel rooms is a must for any business traveller and now many leisure travellers too

High definition televisions (HDTVs) are the focal point of every hotel room and there are a huge variety of models for hoteliers to choose from to suit differing room sizes and budgets.

are two essential gadgets for many travellers.  Apple has sold over 100 million iPods and many travellers use them to listen to favourite songs, watch movies, or view family photos, so any docking station that couples as an alarm clock should be at the top of any hotelier’s list for in-room gadgets. Alternatively, most in-room televisions also double up as an alarm clock.

all at a cost to the guest

The current trend in upselling is not only about presenting a guest with an upgrade or an offer, but also finding the offer that is right for that particular guest

It’s about determining what that guest is interested in at that particular moment.”

“It’s about doing it in such a way that it doesn’t feel like an upsell,” McGuire says. “It’s a balancing act between keeping the guest happy and driving revenue and profits

It’s one of those channels that we know is creating incremental sales for hotels.”

iPods and iPads has really changed the opportunity to effectively communicate with a guest at any given moment.”

FrontDesk Upsell, which is part of the Nor1 platform, prompts front desk personnel with a sales script and a personalized offer through the hotel’s property management system (PMS) when a guest checks in. This scripted approach takes some of the guesswork out of the upselling equation and gives the staff more confidence when offering an upgrade.“For front desk personnel, this isn’t like a hard sell—it’s not like a used car salesman,” Buckhiester says. “This is about providing options. Those options may or may not be of interest to a guest, but in many cases they are.

There is that customer experience element, if you’re using the analytics in the right way, to make sure the offer is not only profitable to you but relevant to the customer.”

Because a wireless network can support many applications, hoteliers are finding that adding services can be fairly inexpensive

Cameras can communicate wirelessly and video can be cached off site.

VoWiFi: Voiceover Wi-Fi is one way a mobile handset can be integrated into a voice-over-Internet-protocol network.Development kit: A software development kit typically is a set of development tools that allows a software engineer to create applications for a certain software package, hardware platform, computer system, video game console, operating system or similar platform.Browser-based: An application that is accessed via Web browser over a network such as the Internet or an intranet. Also a software application that is coded in a browser-supported language.Two-way: A radio that can both transmit and receive, unlike a broadcast receiver, which only receives content.RF: Radio frequency is a frequency or rate of oscillation, which corresponds to the frequency of alternating current electrical signals used to produce and detect radio waves.LAN: A local-area network is a computer network covering a small geographic area, such as a home, office or group of buildings, that consists of high data-transfer rates, a small geographic range and lack of a need for telecommunication lines.Mesh: Mesh networking is a way to route data, voice and instructions between nodes. It allows for continuous connections and reconfiguration around broken or blocked paths by “hopping” from node to node until the destination is reached.

According to the company’s 2012 March Sales Report, “Preliminary quarter-to-date total retail sales of $1.73 billion increased 15.3 percent compared with total retail sales of $1.50 billion for the same period in fiscal 2011.” Additionally, according to the 2011 Nordstrom Annual Report, “both the average selling price and the number of items sold increased in 2011 compared with 2010.”