Hotel 1000 Could Be Raising U.S. High-Tech Hotel Bar

SEATTLE— The bar for U.S.-based high-tech hotels might be ready to move up another notch. And the catalyst for such an event might turn out to be Hotel 1000, a 120-room independent five-star property that’s set to make its official debut here on June 26. Teeming with cutting-edge technology that many hoteliers have only dreamed of, Hotel 1000 is the culmination of a vision formed by its owner Bellevue, WA-based Murray Franklyn— a commercial real estate development firm that has never before set foot in the lodging real estate arena— as well as its operator, Kirkland, WA-based MTM Luxury Lodging, which has been managing distinctive luxury hotels for 10 years now. Together, the two firms have worked on the Hotel 1000 project at 1000 First Avenue in Seattle for nearly 16 months now. Together, they believe they’re taking the concept of the high-tech hotel to the next level. “We shared the vision of the owners in wanting to install in this hotel the next generation of technology,” explained James Simkins, a partner with MTM Luxury Lodging. “We thought it would be smart to challenge ourselves by taking technology to the next level in the hotel and catch up with the other leading high-tech hotels of the world, which are mostly in Asia. Over there and throughout the world, Mandarin Oriental is usually the leader in this area. But we want to take what they’re already doing and get to the next level.” Simkins further pointed out that Seattle is the perfect place for such a sudden evolution in U.S. hi-tech hotels considering the city is usually regarded as one of the hi-tech capitals of the world. The fact that MTM has discovered such a high demand for hi-tech hotels in Seattle only made the project more feasible. The basis for Hotel 1000’s hi-tech designation is its fully converged Internet Protocol network infrastructure, through which all building operating systems, including all front-of-the-house and back-of-the-house applications, function cohesively. Consequently, in-room amenities like high-speed Internet, voice over IP telephones and video-on-demand all run off the same IP network that’s based on CAT5E and CAT6 wiring and bundled T1 lines. Likewise, the property management system, customer relationship management system, energy management system and countless others, are all on the same converged network. Such an infrastructure arrangement is considered the new standard for— at the very least— new hotel development projects by many experts and was made possible at Hotel 1000 by Valcros, Inc., a provider of consultation, design and implementation services relating to converged voice, data, video and data networks and applications. According to Valcros, the converged infrastructure will now allow Hotel 1000 to offer more advanced guest services as they become technologically available, integrate back-end operations and reduce deployment and management costs. “Everything is on the converged network and we can add to it as we need to,” Simkins emphasized. “Now, we don’t know what’s coming down the pike in terms of hotel technology, but we do know that it will be IP-addressable. So with a converged IP network, we can handle whatever comes along rather easily.” Simkins also believes that the key technological service piece to Hotel 1000 is its CRM, which is designed to create a comfortable environment for each individual guest. As an example of the CRM’s ability, Simkins said, “If a guest checks in and we know from his guest preference information that he likes a cool room at 68 degrees, certain types of artwork and soft jazz, during check in we can remotely set the room thermostat to 68, put a piece of artwork on the in-room 40-inch LCD TV and have the room playing soft jazz for when he walks in. That’s all done using converged technology and having the PMS talking with various operating systems.” Beyond the CRM as well as other features such as condominiums, a restaurant and bar, a spa, 6,300 sf of meeting space and a dog