ALLENTOWN, PA—The Renaissance Allentown Hotel here recently opened amidst the city’s boom in economic development.
“The Renaissance is in the middle of a renaissance,” said Scott Bullock, the 170-key hotel’s general manager. “There’s a whole rebirth of office buildings, apartments, restaurants and us; the city is just booming right now and, when it’s done, there will be more than $1 billion in investments in new-build enterprises in Allentown within this two- to three-year period.”
As such, it was important for the hotel to open with leading-edge advancements, and one way it accomplished that was to add in each guestroom new iPad minis with charging docks, powered by Intelity’s guest-services software. The ICE solution transforms the tablets into a virtual concierge, allowing guests to perform tasks like scheduling wake-up calls, browsing the Internet and ordering room service. “We did this to differentiate us from the marketplace and put us as the leader,” said Bullock. “I think this is the way that the industry will go in the future.”
Bullock noted that, aside from the pen and pad, the iPad eliminates paper from the guestroom. “Our guest directory and room-service menu, local attractions, anything a guest would need is on the iPad,” he said, noting that it’s a cost-saver and a time-saver, since the hotel no longer needs to reprint compendiums anytime the room-service menu changes or a new local attraction opens up.
And, it’s beneficial for guests, too. “They can order food directly from the iPad,” he said, noting that there’s customization in the system. “If you’re ordering a steak, what pops up next is how well you want it cooked, and it even suggests wine pairings.”
Additionally, the iPad also replaces the guestroom alarm clock. “It’s also the radio; we have preprogrammed stations with different genres of music,” said Bullock. “It unclutters the room. We’re looking for a very clean, sleek look in the guestrooms.”
Bullock noted that the ICE solution is one key component to the hotel’s overall technology strategy. Additionally, the hotel also has Android tablets as menus in the restaurant. This allows the property to update menus more efficiently, whether it’s to add a special or take something off. Additionally, the hotel can create personalized menus for group dinners and business dinners. “We can put the company logo at the top and put limited choices on it [if they want],” said Bullock. “It’s customized.” The hotel also put iPads in the meeting rooms. “If you go into the meeting room, our banquet captain will give you a tablet that controls the lights, TV, sound and the electronic drapes.”
“There’s definitely a cool factor,” said Bullock of all of the hotel’s technology platforms, and the Intelity solution in the guestroom in particular. “We’re way ahead of a lot of hotels as far as technology goes. Hopefully, we’re giving the traveler what they expect, or even exceeding their expectations, when they come in.”