Internet Protocol Television(IPTV) is creating a big impact on the mainstream TV industry. It has much wider applications than just in the entertainment field. In this article we shall take a peek at one such niche IPTV segment – the Hospitality industry, and how it can change the Hotel Guest user experience and benefit Hotel Operators.
Conventional Television systems in most of the hotels around the world offer two major features –
- Live TV Channels
- Movies on demand
Background
The features are limited by the coaxial cable TV technology that has been prevalent for the past 30 years. It broadcasts the TV media, meaning pre-scheduled programs are run irrespective of user’s individual preference on a particular channel. The provider offers a set of content and the user can tune to the choice of his/her channel.
Why change to IPTV? Existing analogue cable TV technology has limitations –
- Poor Quality of TV channels
- Lack of personalization for guests
- No support for getting guest’s inputs
- Limitations of number of TV channels offered
- Lack of offering convenience to guests
- No personalization of TV services
- Inefficient utilization of the audio-visual medium to generate additional revenues
Hotel IPTV Technology
In the past 20 years the Internet has created a big impact in the user habits. Today most Hotels include the “Internet services” as part of their default offerings, though it may come at a small premium price. The Internet has made it possible for users to “search what they want” at the click of a mouse. The free flow of information gives users more choices and it has heightened the expectation levels. The IPTV technology can help Hotel operators to to offer wider options of infotainment and making the services more personalized for their guests.
Highlights
- IPTV Channels
- Video on demand (VOD)
- Time shift TV
- TV on demand
- Games
- Bookmarking
- Personalized services
- Infotainment
- TCommerce – Interactive shopping
Guest Experience
The hotel IPTV system or Interactive TV can change the Guest experience in many ways. The most important areas it can create difference are –
- Personalization of User Interface based on guest preferences
- Localised infotainment platform
- Ability to feedback to Hotel management
Benefits for Hotels
- Better video and audio quality of the TV content
- Improved customer satisfaction
- Additional revenue sources
- Tools that Improve quality and efficiency of room services and staff
- Interactive Advertising platform for Hotel Services
In the next few articles we shall see each of these benefits in detail.
–
Yogesh Raut is a Techno-Entrepreneur with more than 12 years of experience in IT and networking industry. Over a period of years he has successfully built extensive experience in IPTV technology in various fields.
He is the co-founder of NexusWerkz, an IPTV technology solution provider based in Singapore. He is the designer and architect of IPTV solutions – Xenia Hospitality IPTV and Orion internet TV, developed at NexusWerkz. He offers consulting services in various fields such as Internet TV, Hotel TV, E-Learning, Social Networking etc. abonnement iptv