Partner News

INTERNATIONAL REPORT—Whether it’s celebrating an anniversary, receiving an award, earning a certification, debuting a new product or expanding the business, hotel companies and vendors achieve new milestones on a daily basis. Here’s a look at recent accomplishments:

Country Inn & Suites in Georgia Partners with HIS
Hotel Internet Services (HIS) has implemented a high-speed WiFi network upgrade at the Country Inn & Suites by Radisson, Columbus, GA. The hotel had begun work on an extensive property-wide renovation that placed a top priority on first revamping its internet abilities due to that being identified as one of most important services for guests. Since partnering with HIS, the hotel is now able to ensure a fast and seamless connection for each guest device, with the property also noting a significant improvement in online guest review scores.

Prior to partnering with HIS, Country Inn & Suites, Columbus frequently faced poor internet quality issues such as an inability for guests and staff to connect or extremely slow speeds despite paying for a high-speed service. The root cause of the issue was identified as resulting from an outdated network infrastructure that was creating a bottleneck in bandwidth performance and signal strength. HIS was able to provide a detailed strategy over how any connectivity issues could be fully resolved at an affordable price. This included updating the property’s network with several state-of-the-art modems along with the strategic implementation of advanced Ruckus access points within the guestrooms, lobby, breakfast and meeting room areas.

HIS also provides both hotel staff and guests with 24/7 instant customer support. This ensures that properties and their guests will consistently continue to receive high-quality WiFi performance along with the ability to swiftly address any troubleshooting issues that may arise.

Dual-Branded Singapore Property Opts for Knowcross
The 254-room Novotel Singapore on Stevens and the 518-room Mercure Singapore on Stevens have both decided to implement the Knowcross platform in order to maximize their operational efficiency and to elevate the quality of their guest service deliverance. This twin implementation adds to the growing Knowcross clientele in Singapore.

The dual-branded hotel opted for the Know Housekeeping, Know Service and Know Glitch applications. These programs monitor and facilitate guest services efficiently—appointing the closest team member for the task, which reduces the waiting time of a guest.

To implement the platform during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Knowcross team worked remotely with the various departments at the hotels to seamlessly provide specific customizations to cater to the hotel’s business needs.

Hotel Phillips Chooses Sonifi
Hotel on Phillips in Sioux Falls, SD, has equipped its 90 guestrooms with high-tech services from Sonifi. Sonifi’s interactive television platform offers entertainment options including still-in-theater movies and streaming content from more than 2,000 apps. It also supports self-service features like in-room checkout, which reduces in-person contact and expedites the checkout process.

Each room also has a voice-controlled Alexa Echo device that can assist guests with hospitality requests and television controls—ideal for guests preferring not to use the in-room phone or TV remote.

PLI Introduces 100% Plastic Free Key Cards
PLI Card Marketing Solutions has launched Re.Solve TFTM—a plastic-free solution for RFID guestroom key cards made from FSC-certified paper layers.

According to PLI, Re.Solve TFTM is intended to address market demand for durable, high-quality RFID key cards that are made from sustainable materials and do not contribute to the global supply of plastic waste. Re.Solve TFTM key cards contain genuine NXP MIFARE technology and are compatible with most hotel lock systems.

HTNG Adds to Vendor Advisory Council
Hospitality Technology Next Generation (HTNG) has added six qualified representatives to serve on its Vendor Advisory Council. HTNG’s Vendor Advisory Council leverages insight from industry vendors to address the needs and concerns of technology providers, contributes thought leadership across multiple platforms and discusses ideas around potential new initiatives and the roadmap of the association.

There were 22 candidates nominated for this year’s five available positions in the general election and four candidates nominated for an additional Startup seat. All six representatives were nominated and voted on by consultants and the vendor community. The new and reelected members joining HTNG’s Vendor Advisory Council are Ali Abidi, partner, PwC; Mike Gray, senior manager, hospitality practice manager, Americas, NEC Corporation; Dmitry Koltunov, co-founder/CTO, Alice; Frank Melville, CEO, Phonesuite; Tanya Pratt, VP, Opera Cloud Strategy and Product Management, Oracle Hospitality; and Pedro Torres, co-founder/CEO, YooniK.

Now consisting of 18 members, the HTNG Vendor Advisory Council will continue to align industry vendors and the hospitality IT executives serving on HTNG’s board of governors.