The hotel room is one area that has traditionally been devoid of complex devices or applications. However, this is changing as the television is becoming the focal point of the hotel room as the main digital in-room entertainment and information source. The hotel guest’s ability to access services on the television is heavily reliant on the navigation of the user interface. If it fails to meet the guest’s expectations, it will negatively affect their whole experience at that hotel.
Acentic’s open platform and associated graphical user interface (GUI) integrates a number of elements common to the interfaces guests experience everyday in the wider world of consumer digital media, creating an intuitive navigation which they will readily adopt. It also enables hoteliers to entertain, inform and communicate with guests in a new way by evolving from a closed platform to one that is open to the World Wide Web.
“Guests are becoming increasingly sophisticated and demanding of their hotel experience, especially regarding the in-room technology. They want to use the technology the same way they are accustomed to doing at home and in their everyday lives,” said Alistair Forbes, CEO of Acentic. “What we are seeing in this next generation of hotel technology is an evolution to new user friendly interfaces which rapidly become second nature. With ongoing development, the UI is becoming much more of a media center, something that has never been seen before in the hotel industry.”
Acentic developed its platform based on user testing with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Information Technology, the largest organisation for applied research in Europe. Looking at focus groups of guests of varying nationalities, ages, occupations and family status, the companies tested the system’s navigation, content, image quality and other areas. This research allowed them to evaluate the product, see how usage varies amongst people, observe behavioral differences using a digital hotel iTV system and determine what features were missing from the system.
“Through this research, Acentic knows what hotel guests are looking for and we have mapped our technology to deliver those needs,” Forbes adds. “By appealing to the guest’s emotions and making the actual navigation a fun experience, we can encourage them to explore the endless possibilities of the Acentic platform.”
Acentic’s new navigation platform enables easy access to a number of applications and content. From an entertainment point of view, the navigation provides fast and easy access to all available content, enabling guests to rapidly see what is available and to select their desired content. This navigation also brings a unique way to visualise available TV channels, so that guests can see the line-up at a glance and tune into their favorite channels.
The new navigation also provides access to a host of information sources, including weather, news and promotions from hotel groups, all taken live from the World Wide Web. Acentic’s GUI is open to external content to make use of the extensive content available on the Internet and remove many of the limits associated with traditional hotel iTV systems.
The navigation also enables hotels to communicate with guests in a dynamic way through increased use of animation and video content within the hotel information pages. This creates a mixture between usability and entertainment that keeps the user active and attracted. The next generation is also less text-based, focusing more on graphics that the human eye and brain can recognise much faster.
“Overall, we want hoteliers to understand that their in-room digital iTV needs to be in line with what is happening in the wider world of consumer digital media that guests use day in and day out,” said Forbes. “With an intuitive navigation that guests will readily adopt and an open platform that allows hotels to fully exploit their online resources, Acentic is truly removing the limits for hoteliers and helping them to provide the information and entertainment that today’s guests associate with a great hotel experience.”