Hilton to roll out ‘Connected Rooms’ in 2018

Hilton has unveiled its ultra-modern ‘Connected Room’, a first-of-its-kind, high-tech guest room that enables guests to personalise and control every aspect of their stay from their mobile device.

Currently in beta testing, Connected Room is now live in one hotel and will be added to several more in the coming weeks, to be followed by rapid roll out across the US in 2018.

Guests who stay at Connected Room-enabled properties will soon be able to use the Hilton Honors app to manage most things they would traditionally do manually in a room, from controlling the temperature and lighting to the TV and window coverings. Guests will also be able to personalise their room with technology that loads the most popular streaming media and other accounts to in-room TVs.

In the longer-term, Connected Room is set to support a range of connected devices, engagements and experiences. Guests will able to use voice commands to control their room or access their content, as well as upload their own artwork and photos to automatically display.

Christopher J. Nassetta, Hilton’s president and CEO, said: “Innovation has been in Hilton’s DNA since entrepreneur Conrad Hilton purchased the first Hilton property and pioneered the hospitality industry nearly 100 years ago.

“Many innovations later, we are once again setting a new standard for the industry by giving our guests a travel experience where the room knows them, and they know their room.”

Guests will be able to use the Hilton Honors app to personalise and control every aspect of their stay from their mobile device

From a business perspective, Connected Room is Hilton’s solution for continued innovation and will make it easier for hotels across the portfolio to keep pace with the rapid change in technology. Instead of relying on new hardware to update hotel rooms, Hilton can more efficiently push software updates through the platform to create new experiences and offer new features.

Connected Room also has implications for the hotel chain’s Travel with Purpose corporate responsibility programme, as the technology will give guests the option to help conserve energy by syncing the air conditioning with their schedule.

This will allow hotel operators to monitor how their hotels are managing energy in real time to ensure they are effectively reducing environmental impact. Hilton Team Members will also benefit, as the new platform will provide them with better insight into guest preferences.