Hotel@your fingertips

“From opening the door to placing an order at the restaurant to even browsing the internet on the flat screen television in your room,we have tried to make accessible as many facilities as we possibly can on the iPod,” says Anil S Nagare,the spokesperson for the hotel.

The iPod controls the television,the lighting and the air-conditioning of the room,and also allows you to browse through the in-house restaurant’s menu to place an order directly or check your current billed amount. The entertainment options include a library with over 200 Hindi films,music videos and songs and Wi-Fi facility that you can use to browse the internet on the television screen. The iPod even doubles up as mouse and keyboard. It also allows a guest to switch the privacy setting for the room from ‘Do Not Disturb’ to ‘Service’. However,once fully functional,the most interesting feature of this concept will be the option to be able to open the door using the iPod after viewing your door cam footage. Nagare points out that each iPod has been reprogrammed for the room it is installed in and is hence useless outside of it.

The iPod Touch,says Nagare,has been remodelled and a Linux-based application forms the interface between the user and the Wi-Fi box that has been installed in the room. The Wi-Fi box in turn has been connected to the server at the backend. “While the television has been physically connected to the Wi-Fi box,the airconditioning and the lights are remote sensor system-controlled,which again,is connected to the Wi-Fi box in the room.

While Hotel Suba International is the only hotel in the city to have executed such a concept,Nagare says that the owner of the property,Mansur Mehta,first experienced it in Hong Kong. “That is when he thought that this is one way to make his hotel more appealing for young Indian professionals who frequently travel. It took Mr Mehta nearly three years to have the concept executed in its entirety.”

As he had guessed,the hotel is hugely popular with the younger generation but is regarded with some skepticism by the older lot. “We have maintained backup remote controls and touch panels for each of the facilities like the lighting and the television. After all,it is a choice we offer,” Nagare explains. At the same time,the hotel is working on an instruction manual that will be kept in every room for the guest to consult.

While waiting for the ‘Open Door’ function to be executed,Mehta is drawing up a list of few more facilities he wants to make available on the iPod. “The most important one has to do with what an iPod is often associated with: games,” Nagare smiles,“We don’t want our hotel to be a place where the business traveller comes to sleep. We want to ensure he enjoys his time here.”

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