Hilton and Marriott Turn to the Internet of Things to Transform the Hotel Room Experience
Photo Credit: Marriott's IoT Guestroom Lab is being introduced to hotel owners, developers, and consumers to give the company feedback as it considers launching smart hotel rooms across its portfolio of 30 brands. Some of the room technology, including a smart mirror, is meant for newbuild hotels. Marriott International
Skift Take
It was only a matter of time before the big brands started rolling this smart-room technology. But what will be even more interesting is seeing which brand's approach works better in a hospitality setting, and is more appealing not only to guests but to hotel owners, too.
When Hilton CEO Christopher Nassetta took to the stage at the Skift Global Forum in September, one of the most headline-grabbing statements he made had to do with what he described as Hilton's "Connected Room."
"Imagine a world where the room knows you, and you know your room," Nassetta said. "Imagine a world where you walk in, the TV says, 'How are you doing, John? Nice to see you,' and all of your stuff is preloaded and not only preloaded, but the only thing you ever need to touch to control in the room is in the palm of your hand," he said, referring to a guest's smartphone.
Hilton is currently beta testing this concept in a handful of hotels, and the company intends to expand this feature to more hotels worldwide in 2018.
But Hilton isn't the only hotel company that wants to deliver smart, hyper-personalized hotel rooms. In fact, not far from Hilton's Innovation Lab in McLean, Virginia, another major hotel company has similarly grand designs of using the Internet of Thi
