As digital technology becomes further integrated into hotel design and guest experience, an increasing number of hoteliers are tapping a "digital concierge" to fulfill guest requests. These interactive displays allow users to order amenities and search for entertainment and restaurants. In short, they take care of a variety of tasks that had previously been handled by an attentive person at the front desk. As technology becomes easier to use and better able to meet a wide range of guest needs, hoteliers and designers are determining how to balance a sense of self-service while still providing a full-service experience.

Streamlining Technology with Design
A major concern for hotels adopting digital technology is making it fit the overall aesthetic of the hotel. For example, the ultra-modern Hotel32 at Monte Carlo, which opened in August, incorporates its digital concierge into a larger technology strategy it calls "Hotel Evolution." Guests are provided with custom iPhones featuring Hotel32's deep reds, whites, and blacks, which allows guests to make spa appointments and dinner reservations using the touchpad. They are also able to purchase hotel merchandise, arrange for room service and book limousine transportation at all times of the day. Rather than incorporating a central kiosk or giant screen in the lobby, as a number of hotels have done, the designers of the program saw this as offering a minimalist and upscale combination of form and function. Ad agency David&Goliath designed the app.

For those who would prefer to make their requests to a person, Hotel32 offers a Suite Assistant, who provides butler and concierge services. Business and group travelers can also borrow laptop computers from the front desk.

While the brand new Hotel32 cultivates a rock star aesthetic, the boutique Eliot Hotel in Boston aims for elegance. Designed by Peter Niemitz, the hotel's 79 suites and 16 guestrooms combine an old world charm with a range of modern technology aimed at enhancing the guest experience. The centerpiece of the technology is the "Interactive Customer Experience" system, or ICE, that allows guests to request a vast range of hotel services from their room. The system, which was developed by Orlando-based Intelity, was installed at the hotel in July of this year.

Each room is outfitted with a 26-inch touchscreen, from which guests can request extra towels, check on their departure time from Logan Airport, or find out about the local museums. Again, the hoteliers opted not to add any sort of large screen or central kiosk in the hotel lobby in order to maintain the hotel's visual integrity.

It took little time for guests to become comfortable with ICE, with a full 82 percent of visitors reaching out to their digital concierge the month after it was installed."To keep it with our style, we never considered putting anything in the lobby," says Pascale Schlaefli, the general manager at the Eliot Hotel. "You have to stay in advance to changes—we have a sophisticated and diverse clientele. That doesn't mean it's an old world clientele. It seems like it's just going to be a way of life within the next two years to have those types of services."

The convenience has led to a boost in guest use of the hotel's services across the board, including more reservations at the hotel restaurant and room service orders. For meetings and events, it allows groups to send out personalized greetings and messages to all members of the group as well as a full itinerary including contact information and maps.

"If there's a concierge request that's a little more enhanced, our staff would assist that, but otherwise everything is streamlined so there's no need for the second or third or forth call," says Schlaefli. "You can close the call as soon as the service is delivered, so the productivity of the guest requests are going much faster."

Intelity is looking to add voiceover capabilities so phones will no longer be needed in the rooms, as well as movie-ordering options in the near future. The system has been rolled out at a total of four hotels in North America and plans are in place for a wider rollout, including at Westin brand hotels.

Rise of the (Interactive) Machines
OnSite Media is a purveyor of digital concierge technology. Though they started in the hospitality technology business 20 years ago by converting in-room televisions into promotional networks, in recent months they have shifted to interactive software and kiosks, which can be installed at hotels, airports or other travel providers. Currently in place at 500 hotels and backlogged in an additional 2,500, OnSite recently partnered with software company Showcase Technology, giving them access to an additional 20,000 hotels.

"The customer today is ready to interact with media in a public space—whether it's an iPhone or a kiosk, people are hungry to interact with media," says Mick Hall, CEO and president of OnSite Media. He says it's analogous to the rise of ATMs, which at first struck individuals as an oddity, then became something many requested from merchants before becoming a required item for most. Hall sees digital concierges following the same trajectory.

One of the early adopters of the digital concierge idea was Courtyard by Marriott, which began rolling out its 56-inch GoBoards into hotel lobbies in November 2007. The large touch screen offers quick-hit information including headlines, time, and weather, as well as more detailed information about local restaurants, parks and even pharmacies. The brand is in the process of adding meeting room schedules and hotel activities to the GoBoards as well.

Unlike the in-room concierges, these central screens help reinforce the sense that guests are being assisted by the hotel staff in the location that they are used to.

"In the past the guests would come up to the front desk and say, 'I want to go to the ballpark.' The front desk clerk would open up the giant map, write directions or draw them out, now they are able to use the touch screen to create the map and print the directions out," says Brian King, vice president and global brand manager for Courtyard by Marriott. But he emphasizes that the digital concierges are meant to work alongside the human concierges. "You always want to give the customer the choice between human service, or self service. It meets the needs of the consumer at a very intimate level and helps build upon their overall brand experience."

He points to issues such as when a guest is not feeling well and may be more interested in going through an actual person to help find a drugstore or doctor. While restaurant recommendations have increasingly moved online, guests may also be interested in what a person behind the desk prefers.

The GoBoards are one piece of a larger lobby redesign concept called "Refreshing Business" that's taking place at Courtyards across the country. This includes a new food and beverage concept that creates more of a grab-and-go, café layout, media pods where guests can watch television and a more modern, tech-friendly feel, of which the GoBoards are a crucial component. Marriott plans to have 100 locations revamped by the end of the year and another 100 through the following year—totaling over half of all Courtyard by Marriott locations by the end of 2010.

Embracing Digital as a Brand
MGM Mirage is also using its shift to digital touch screens as a brand-enhancing opportunity, or rather a brands-enhancing opportunity. When MGM Mirage's leadership looked to improve guests' interactions with its properties, it sought to get a standard interface across all its brands while keeping them distinct. It owns the Bellagio, MGM Grand and Mandalay Bay, as well as hundreds of restaurants, theaters, retailers, spas and services with their own brands.

"I tried to standardize as much as I could and try to take a holistic view across the entire organization—not only the touch screen in front of a restaurant or inside a convention center, but looking at how that can go out to mobile devices or act as a reservation agent," says Randy Dearborn, vice president of multimedia for MGM Mirage.

Having worked with the hodgepodge of early digital signage and interactive programs that were in place at MGM's numerous brands, Dearborn was able to assess what would be of most use to the company on a broader level and with his team built an entirely new system in-house. This included over 400 large LCD screens, 20 restaurant menu touch screens, wayfinding screens for meeting and convention areas, large screens at the entrance of hotel night clubs, and screens at the end of rows throughout gaming areas.

The rollout of the digital signage is only partially complete and Dearborn expects it to continue evolving. He says the challenge with shifting to a self-service kind of system is to make it user-friendly enough that it doesn't alienate the less tech-savvy clientele, but not too simple that it doesn't meet guests' needs or seems somehow outdated. While MGM moves toward a standardized system, it is continuing to keep its many brands distinct, using the same navigation across the board, but tailoring the branding to the particular hotel, restaurant or retailer the screen is promoting.

Soon guests will be able to make restaurant (and even poker table) reservations across all of the brand's properties through the program, and access the concierge data from their room and over their smart phones. They are working out how meeting and incentive groups can be synched to each other with shared itineraries and considering a social media component. Ultimately Dearborn would like to see the concierge program get as individualized as possible.

"It could get to that point of having one-to-one feedback, where you can literally track that individual person's wants and desires," says Dearborn. "Where you can walk by a device and it's, 'Hi Joe, I know you were looking at one of our restaurants earlier, how about this?' That’s the next step—that truly personalized service."

But as these developments become more widely accepted, some say it is key to keep these within the brand's long-term vision.

"Technology that is not fully integrated to the guest experience has a tendency to fail," says Marriott's Brian King. "It has to become a sustainable brand element. You have to be cautious and thoughtful when you're making that kind of technological investment. Novelties have a very short shelf life."