Starwood goes high-tech

Starwood believes that the future of business hotels will be in high-level and high-tech service. The hotel enterprise introduces new features to some of its hotel brands that reflect this vision, like robot butlers and smart mirrors.

“Welcome to our hotel. To enter your room, please tap your iPhone or Apple Watch. If you want to know the weather forecast, please touch the mirror for weather updates. Have you forgotten an important travel item like a tooth brush or a comb, we will send our robot butler over to bring a complimentary item to your room.” This is how a Starwood hotel front office employee may introduce you to the new smart technology features. Some of Starwood’s brands are already introducing the new technologies, like Four Points by Sheraton, Aloft and Elements.

At some of these branded hotels, guest rooms already offer two TV sets. One to watch TV, the other to be used for a rehearsal of tomorrow’s presentation. Or, if you are traveling with someone else, bedside headphones are paired to a corresponding TV. You can both watch whatever you like on your own set.

Some hotels already offer the smart mirror concept. By touching the mirror's surface, you can get immediate access to the weather, news and sports scores. You can also pair it wirelessly to a smartphone and see your Twitter feed and other alerts on the mirror. The Aloft hotel brand is testing the Robot Butler, a rolling robot that comes to your room and deliver small items, as programmed by the concierge desk. Soon, you will find more innovation in the gym, as tests are carried out with the Oculus Rift. This virtual reality headset can make your next workout a very entertaining experience.

Image by S