High-Tech Hotels

NYTimes reports on high-tech hotels that change room conditions to guest’s preferences, like a Tivo for your hotel. As the chief technology officer for the Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group says,”technology is up there with the spas, rooms and food and beverage.” Hotels have long offered customize settings. I filled out a Kimpton inTouch questionnaire that specified juice instead of beer in my room, but the Mandarin is customizing further by using a digital profile that captures data on what a guest watches on TV, orders, and does.

I stayed at a Kimpton earlier this year and what I’d like personalized is no minibar because of the compressor sounds. Kimpton puts much into room design, but the ambience of a comfortable, relaxed room can be ruined by the high-pitched hum of a compressor. Even worse, is the fan in the bathroom you can’t turn off. So, if I’m being digitally tracked, I hope they can turn off fan noise in my rooms.