Hotel gadget contest winners aim to better meet guests' needs
Competition attracts innovative ideas on how to give guests better service and happier stay
Checking into a hotel could be about to change forever after the winners of a six-month global search to find gadgets that could change travellers' lives were unveiled by Polytechnic University.
The eight winners include two gadgets that offer a radical departure to meeting and greeting. Guests can bypass the check-in desk with AElement, a new security room key, and once in their rooms, Tely, a Skype-style interactive television, gives them the power of the concierge service.
The prototypes of all eight products will now be put through their paces at Hotel Icon, PolyU's research partner.
Terence Ronson, chairman of the Tomorrow's Guestrooms contest, said it would be "a living, breathing live experiment".
Richard Hatter, general manager of Hotel Icon in Tsim Sha Tsui, said his hotel looked forward to being at the forefront of innovation, but added the six-month experiment would not be intrusive.
"There's a very important part [to the experiment] to reassure guests that they are not being observed," he said.