The rise and rise of cheap hotels has bred a new variant of smart hotel where the door and the room can be controlled by a mobile phone application. With no room service, selectable coloured interior lighting, no fridge, and no door key Mi-Pad in New Zealand may be an indication of what hotels will be like in the future. With a smartphone app to control the front door, lighting, order room service, room temperature, and message other guests the hotel truly offers self service. If this catches on, how many other hotels will switch to automated service to save money on staff wages?
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(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:03AM (24 children)
I don't want another f-ing app.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:10AM (22 children)
They could put this app on a cheap tablet in the hotel room.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:21AM (5 children)
Sure, that would be fine, if it actually works (my success with cheap tablets has not been good). But my guess is that the tablet would walk or be dropped, unless it was locked down to a table.
On the other hand, maybe this could be better than a phone on the side table that is answered by someone that can barely understand English? Lest you think I'm showing my Ugly American side, this is often the case in motels in the USA. I expect to have language problems when traveling to non-English speaking countries like Quebec...(grin).
(Score: 2) by captain normal on Sunday November 18 2018, @05:49AM (4 children)
Well they do speak English on South Island. You just might have a bit of a problem with dialect.
Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts"- --Daniel Patrick Moynihan--
(Score: 4, Funny) by deimtee on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:24AM (3 children)
The differences are trivial.
If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @11:40AM (2 children)
Are what? English, please!
(Score: 3, Touché) by takyon on Sunday November 18 2018, @11:57AM
The differences are rudimentary. :^)
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 2) by driverless on Monday November 19 2018, @03:23AM
Inconsequential. Diminutive. Inappreciable. Evanescent.
I hope that's commensurably delineated the matter for you.
(Score: 2) by Hartree on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:21AM (5 children)
If the door is controlled only by the app, I see a possible problem with this plan. ;)
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:26AM (4 children)
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:23AM (2 children)
... except for the tracking, and the fact that the apps require an account with an app store, and the payment for the room is also likely to be via a credit card...
Did I mention the tracking?
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by RS3 on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:23AM (1 child)
It seems like we're being tracked anyway. I'm against it. I don't acquiesce, nor do I suggest anyone should, but most do (acquiesce). I resist as much as possible, but now the cops are scanning everyone's license plates all the time... https://www.eff.org/pages/automated-license-plate-reader-dataset [eff.org]
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday November 18 2018, @08:10AM
And it is getting harder to get a drink without scanned ID [nsw.gov.au].
Not everyone thinks this is a good thing [findlaw.com.au], but it is happening all over the place.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by legont on Sunday November 18 2018, @06:43AM
It has internal social network; possibly for this purpose.
"Wealth is the relentless enemy of understanding" - John Kenneth Galbraith.
(Score: 2) by SomeGuy on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:41AM (3 children)
How would vision impaired people use this shit? Or are they supposed to just kill themselves? Oh, right spying microphone to the rescue!
"save money on staff wages?" All that cost and then some will go to maintenance and upgrading their equipment every year.
All because a $2 light switch from Home Depot that lasts for 30 years just to turn on a damn light is something only a Luddite caveman would use.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:19AM (1 child)
Voice activated commands.
Sightless people would be most welcome in this kind of hotel as they use less electricity for lights.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:31AM
They would also be more comfortable as they would not have to see all the blue LEDs.
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday November 18 2018, @09:43PM
This is Queenstown, one of the most expensive towns in the country.
The people who do the actual hospitality work cannot afford to live there, or anywhere close, and because the employers won't pay them what the market dictates they are worth, there is a massive worker shortage.
Queenstown is the perfect place to try this out. Assuming they can get anyone to clean it, which is not a sure bet.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by looorg on Sunday November 18 2018, @05:06AM (5 children)
Wouldn't that go against the whole idea of cutting staff? They would have to have support staff around then to maintain the tablets. Might as well have a perky blond handing out keys in the reception then. That will probably be cheaper all around.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Sunday November 18 2018, @08:16AM (4 children)
$15 per hour, 16, if not 24 hours a day. Very good chance her periness doesn't show up every so often..
Tablet and IT support contract $x dollars per year
Also' x is less than it might be owing to data collection.
Gaurantee $x is less than $15 x 24 x 7 x 52.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Sunday November 18 2018, @09:46PM (3 children)
I commented above about Queenstown, but if you missed it, Queenstown is one of the most expensive places in New Zealand to live, and wages have not even nearly kept up with housing cost.
If they're paying the perky blonde $15 per hour, she is living under a bridge.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday November 19 2018, @12:34AM (2 children)
If I'd given and Aus or NZ average hotel employee wage, the US readers would have expressed disbelief or accused me of lying.
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Monday November 19 2018, @01:32AM (1 child)
Oh? Wow. I had not thought of that.
You might be right.
(Score: 2) by MostCynical on Monday November 19 2018, @02:09AM
New Zealand rates [employment.govt.nz]
randomly picking San Diego, where $32,000pa [glassdoor.com] is "noErmal".
Loos like $16 would have covered both..!
"I guess once you start doubting, there's no end to it." -Batou, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:09AM
For this kind of app I have a cheap ReMix chinese tablet which does the job well. It only connects by Wifi although the Android OS is crappy about sharing a VPN connection for some screwed up reason I've never understood
(Score: 4, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:23AM (6 children)
What do you do if you don't have a "smart" phone because you aren't a drooling consumertard?
This smells of some hotel chain that is getting kickbacks from cell phone salesturds.
EVERYTHING has do be done via a brand new shiny latest and greatest smartphone! Eating and breathing now requires the purchase of the latest smart/i phone! Taking a dump requires a smartphone! Don't forget to download our FREE news app/spyware for instant up to the second alerts and advertising!
I remember the good old days when switching on a light didn't automatically log that detail in to a database where it was aggregated for advertising optimization purposes.
Oh, and epic hack in 3...2...1...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:42AM
Exactly, epic hack for sure. If that brand of IOTTS* lock hasn't been hacked yet, it will be soon.
* Internet Of Things That Suck
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:45AM (2 children)
With any luck, these places will be cracked (hacked) hard, and very publicly (maybe some movie star has their room broken into?) This might slow the take-rate for this concept.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:04AM
They can probably afford a proper hotel...
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday November 19 2018, @06:01AM
Not to worry: Alexa will be around to witness the crime. [sophos.com]
(Score: 2) by edIII on Sunday November 18 2018, @05:36AM
Or in other words, free housing for those with the requisite skill sets.
Hey, you get rid of all the staff, who is left to figure out that you're not a robot, and that there always seems to be at least 1 room in maintenance mode? They're not getting rid of room service. Just automating it. So that room in maintenance will have a strange fondness for beef stroganoff.
Technically, lunchtime is at any moment. It's just a wave function.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday November 21 2018, @02:11AM
I'm reminded of an episode of X-Files from season 11. It was god damn weird. Most of you will quickly know what is with the title.
The.X-Files.S11E07.Rm9sbG93ZXJz.HDTV.x264-KILLERS.mkv
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bzipitidoo on Sunday November 18 2018, @03:48AM (5 children)
And no smartphone was involved. A few days before our visit, we made reservations and provided payment info online, were given a code for the door lock, showed up, spent the night, and the next morning all we needed to do to check out was just leave. Credit card was charged the expected amount. Never saw any motel personnel. It was kind of neat.
Only came across an unmanned business one other time-- a gas station way out in the country. No attendant, no snacks, just gas pumps. Don't think there was an air hose, but I don't recall that detail. Swipe your credit card and fill 'er up.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by fyngyrz on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:13AM (2 children)
We have lots of gas stations that are like that out here in Montana; also, many that are open more-or-less normal hours still let you at the pumps when they are closed for other business, so the pumps, at least, are 24/7. Swipe the card, pump the gas, and go on your way.
It's very convenient when the next gas station is a hundred miles down the road and someone forgot to completely fill the tank before setting out on a 300 mile road trip. Reporting on a friend.
(Score: 2) by bzipitidoo on Sunday November 18 2018, @12:03PM (1 child)
Er, yes, we'd meant to fill up at the previous town and forgot. Realized our mistake when we were 20 miles down the road. Turn back? Or try to make the next city, still about 40 miles away? We pressed on, but more slowly, to save gas. Set the cruise control at 50 mph. And 10 miles later, we spotted that unmanned gas station.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @01:07PM
Yep, very similar experience here in the middle of the mountains in Utah. At the exit there was a small sign, Gas 10 miles "Thataway". Crossed my fingers and made it with the low fuel warning light on...well after midnight. Credit card worked. When I got home I sent them a short thank-you letter for leaving the pumps on overnight.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:14AM (1 child)
This is how it should be
There's a place like this in my home town. Book, get code, enter, stay, leave.
It's a pity the room facilities didn't match the description but that's the hotel business for you
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @04:56AM
You should see the show "Hotel Impossible." The descriptions that the owners give their respective shit-holes makes me wonder if some people really do live in a parallel dimension. The only thing better is when they react to the bad reviews as Anthony reads them.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Sunday November 18 2018, @12:27PM (3 children)
Well, look. I've been saying this for years. You can't run a hotel without people. But equally there is a shed-load of things that you could do easier by utilising the whole-floor, every room Wifi / Ethernet, phones and TV.
Nobody gives a shit about coloured lighting. Really. Nobody cares.
But the doors should be smartcard. I can't figure out why they aren't in even the cheapest hotels. And, yes, I smart-carded my entire workplace. They should all be. It's cheaper, easier, can be revoked at any time (so no fighting to get keys back or having to post keys back from abroad because you packed them by mistake). You can then tie it into which things they have access to (the pool, the bar, the VIP lounge, etc.), use it for charging (the minibar, the bar, extras, breakfast, etc.).
Ordering room service should be a computer interface. EVEN MCDONALD'S WORKS THAT WAY NOW. Keep the phone just in case for the old fogeys or out-of-the-ordinary situations, but why is it not an IP phone so you don't have to have special systems? Why can't I report my shower not working, etc. that way too? Even if it's a one-man operation, at least then everything can be ticketed, handled "online" and become so much easier to manage than running around every a dozen visitors to sort them all out.
Room temperature - that can just be a thermostat, not sure why you'd want that remotely controlled at all, and when you're in the room it hardly matters what it is - but sure, still it on the "room computer" that manages everything else. Order your breakfast for the morning with a few taps. Wake-up calls. All kinds of things can be automated.
Same for restaurants. Same for a lot of places.
But you still need staff to deal with those queries, cook food, change sheets, clean rooms, security, etc. anyway. But all the nonsense... all that "smiley customer service" shite, that's unnecessary, expensive, prone to complications (e.g. one member of staff not telling the other, etc.), and it's actually easier to do on a system anyway.
Then when a customer says "I complained about X, Y, Z and nothing was done", you can link on the entire stay's log... including the helpdesk-like reponses from maintenance, kitchen staff, etc. to their requests.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday November 18 2018, @01:39PM (1 child)
Sounds like you are on top of your smartcard installation, but I wonder about extending this to motels where the IT support isn't on site? Are all your readers (and powered door locks, etc) on UPS power, or do you all go home (with doors locked/unlocked?) when there is a power failure? Around here I believe there is a law that locks have to fail open, at least from the inside, to meet the fire codes.
Several times a year I work at a test lab that is in a multi-building complex with access control by smartcard (Schlage system, I believe). Most of the time it's fine, but when stuff breaks it's a royal pain. My customers are paying upwards of $1000/hour for testing time, so delays cost everyone a fair bit.
+ Sometimes the smartcard gate won't open to let me enter with my car, so I have to press the call button and hope that a guard is available to see me on a video monitor, and manually open it. This is OK during normal business hours, but the lab runs 2 shifts and often there is only one night guard for the whole complex. I've been locked out a few times.
+ Even more annoying is leaving late at night and the gate won't open. Used to be a heavy piece of wood connected to the gate-operating mechanism and I wasn't going to bust through. Recently they replaced the wood with a piece of flexy plastic pipe and I can (slowly) drive under it with my car, stopping to bend/raise the pipe over my roof antenna. Wouldn't work if I had a taller SUV--advantage to normal-height cars! If anyone audited the comings-and-goings through that gate, there would be a few copies of "me" still on-site.
+ The guards don't always give me the correct programming, I get back to the test lab with the card and it won't open that door.
+ Other parts of the facility do classified military work, I always wonder what would happen if there was a serious security audit or physical penetration test. It seems like there are so many easy ways to defeat the smartcard system (like my driving under the gate) that they could be in big trouble.
(Score: 2) by ledow on Monday November 19 2018, @03:15PM
Any decent electric strike lock will fail secure or fail open as required.
But then can always be opened from the inside by the use of... a handle - complete physical override of the selected setting to facilitate escape.
Or break-glasses which literally cut to the power to the lock overriding any software-failure that may have caused them to lock accidentally.
Additionally, any decent access control system is tied into the fire alarm anyway. It's one wire.
I operate the system for schools - you think we're any less compliant with fire safety when we have regular inspections and children as young as 3 who could get trapped in a room?
Power failure? Almost all systems have battery backup, just like a fire alarm does. In our case, every door for 8 hours+. And then on power failure the choice of "fail-secure" / "fail-open" is made on a per-door basis, but can STILL always be overrode from inside.
1) Your guys need to check their systems better. We just don't get failures like that. We get human-error-programming failures, that's about it. Once, 450KW of power cables arced together across phases. Worst that happens was one controller went a bit screwy but still worked. We just reset it and all was well. I've been using this particular system for 10 years across three models of controllers (because of upgrades / new features / etc. that we needed, not failures).
2) Wood/pipes - yeah, your people are bodging it, you can't do anything reliably with such people. P.S. things like anti-pass-back and audit software should be flagging your "extended stays" where you don't sign out.
3) Human error. That happens. Nothing you can do about it.
4) My system installer I happen to know really well (we've worked together for years across several jobs, and by chance he also worked for my new employers, etc.). I know he's not lying when he tells me the system in use is the same as the one on an RAF base just down the road. One of our upgrades was to get "lockdown" functionality, in case of an on-site shooter etc., which we had to do by upgrading to the model they use at the military base which has always used that functionality.
Any decent access control system can do all these things, and has had all these problems worked out in advance.
(P.S. don't buy Paxton).
(Score: 2) by xorsyst on Monday November 19 2018, @10:47AM
I've stayed at a number of hotels where the room was massively too warm or cold when I first went in. It's ok if I'm just dropping bags before going out for dinner or something, as I can adjust the thermostat and it will be fine when I come back to sleep. But if I'm checking in late and it's wrong, it can totally screw up my sleep.
Why wouldn't I want a system where I can specify the room temperature I want the room to be on my arrival?