Welcome Each year, we launch the Big Picture magazine at the Independent Hotel Show in London Olympia. Here, we enjoy a busy few days showcasing our portfolio of products and services, whilst catching up with partners and clients, old and new. It’s a real highlight for us and a great chance to reflect on the challenges and successes of the past year. This year, like so many other events across the world, the Independent Hotel show was cancelled. So instead, we launch The Big Picture 2021 quietly and sensitively and reflect on the last few months in a very different way. Like most others in the hospitality industry, we’ve experienced a difficult year. However, when faced with a fight or flight situation, we chose the former, evolving and adapting the business in systemic fashion. We’re now a stronger, more focussed organisation. It’s been a privilege to be part of a team that’s shown such resilience through this crazy period. We know that others haven’t been as fortunate and send our heartfelt wishes to those affected by COVID-19 - and hope, by the time you read this, life has become a little more normal. James Grant, Editor Airwave Europe Ltd
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Viva La Evolution David Fogelman, CEO Airwave at Work - Hotels Hotel Information Systems Hotel TV Project Management Telly Addicts Chromecast for Hotels Infection Control Technology
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Airwave at Work – Park Plaza Airwave at Work – Shared Spaces Techlive International WiFi as a Service Airwave Healthcare LG Display Solutions Philips Professional Displays Samsung Display Solutions
Front cover screen image, copyright ‘Universal Pictures 2020’
Viva La Evolution MANY MOONS AGO…
…a hotel was just a place to rest one’s weary head. Guests were simpler creatures, less demanding, and mostly satisfied by cleanliness, comfort and a friendly smile. Today’s hotel industry is a very different place; underpinned by a connected world and technological advancements that ultimately, feeds competition and creates exacting guests with higher expectations and more complicated needs. In the hotel room, TV systems are slicker, more intelligent and laden with features. Screens have grown (quite significantly) in size, but with a peculiar sense of irony, the heart of our business now centres around a 6-inch display…
NOMOPHOBIA
Remember that time you left the house without your mobile? How did that feel? Chances are you felt naked without the device that seems surgically attached to your hand. And it’s not just you of course. Anxiety, respiratory alterations, trembling, perspiration, agitation, disorientation and a heightened heart-beat - all recognised symptoms of
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‘nomophobia,’ fear of being without a smartphone. As crazy as that may seem, it’s a reality in today’s device-driven world. With market penetration of smartphones, now almost universal in the UK, it’s of no surprise that guests expect to use their device to interact with a hotel’s technology.
active IoT devices1, IoT will be as transformative to the world as the Industrial Revolution. These statistics won’t be lost on progressive hotels who’ll look to adopt IoT, not just to satisfy guest expectations, but to lower operating costs, increase productivity, and introduce new products & services. The list of which is vast: think electronic key cards, heating, lighting, curtains - all operated via the guest’s smart device. We’re even seeing examples of hotels fitting RFID (radio frequency identification) chips in their towels to control inventory and manage theft! We see the humble (SMART) hotel TV as a great example of an affordable way of introducing IoT capabilities into the hotel room. Supported by robust internet infrastructure, the SMART hotel TV also offers hoteliers the chance to add functionality later down the line, offering an element of future-proofing (and cost-saving) to their technology.
THE INTERNET OF THINGS
This interactivity of one smart device with another (via the internet), is essentially referred to as the ‘Internet of Things.’ With $6 trillion invested in IoT solutions over the next 5 years and an estimated 50 billion
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