Smart Home Lifestyle

Hotels are the new entertainment haven for weary, wired travelers

Paris 2007:  I shopped, I toured, I dined and I checked my e-mail- twice.  These days, whether your travels are for business or for pleasure, it’s nice to stay “wired in” even when you’re an ocean or a language barrier away.

“Travelers desire more digital entertainment options in the hotel guest room than ever before,” said Tom Keltner, CEO- Americas and Global Brands, Hilton Hotels Corporation.  “The Hilton Sight + Sound Rooms are designed to provide a more enriching experience to business travelers and families, enhancing their journey by providing the ultimate in-room entertainment.”

Hilton’s Sight + Sound Rooms feature a high definition wide-screen TV with digital surround sound speakers.  Plus, there’s a connectivity panel for music, DVD’s, games and your laptop.

“The Sight + Sound Rooms represent an important extension of the strategic entertainment and technological solutions designed for our guests,” said Jeffrey Diskin, senior vice president- brand management, Hilton Hotels. “At Hilton, we know that travel should take you places, and our newly designed rooms are geared to ease, enlighten, entertain and refresh the mind, body and soul while you’re traveling.”

Marriott takes it one step further with their MultiMedia Interface boxes made by LG.  These Plug-In Panels let you connect just about any electronics, with simple ports all located in the front of the DVD player-looking box. 

Want some music?  No problem, the audio input on the plug-in panel plays your personal MP3 player music through the display speakers- while keeping the player charged.  How about some movies?  Forget pay-per-view.  Simply plug in your portable DVD player and choose movies from your personal DVD library.  Plug-In also lets you view footage from your camcorder, and view your digital photos on the big screen.  And for the kids, an input for portable gaming devices. 

And, what’s the best part?  Plug-In turns your TV into a PC.  Just plug in your laptop and now you’ve got a super-sized 32” screen to compute with.  And don’t forget the split-screen option.  Plug-In lets you divvy up the screen so you can watch your favorite TV shows on one side, while surfing the net on the other. 

Just remember, for Internet access, your hotel will need to have a wireless network and your laptop must have a wireless network adaptor.

So, are all the hotels decked out with these hi-tech options?  Hilton Hotels has launched Sight + Sound Rooms at two hotels, including 25 guest rooms at the Hilton Chicago O’Hare International Airport and 30 guest rooms at the Hilton San Francisco.

And Marriott is working to get their rooms “plugged in” too.  The company expects to have up to 25 percent of its connectivity panels installed at Marriott Hotels & Resorts guest rooms in the U.S. and Canada by the end of this year and installed in all guest rooms by the end of 2009.

Author: Diana Kostigen, Marketing/Public Relations Director, Comtec