Innovation & Social Media in Hospitality

Google unveils 'Project Glass' smart glasses - Apr. 4, 2012

2012-04-04T19:03:00.001-04:00

Imagine the Concierge at an InterContinental hotel in Hong Kong with these glasses. He sees that you have entered the hotel's field and are 300 meters away and you have a reservation today for a 3 night stay. The glasses inform that you are an Ambassador member and that you have never visited this hotel. He sees your picture you posted on Linked In so now he has your name and photo - enough info to act on. He decides to greet you in the lobby and welcome you by name to Hong Kong!

This may be part of our future, but we can certainly imagine how we can use it today to enhance the guest experience.

Google unveils 'Project Glass' smart glasses - Apr. 4, 2012:

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Apple's Slick iPad Branding Hides A Broken App Infrastructure | Co.Design: business + innovation + design

2012-03-28T10:27:00.001-04:00

Today I saw a great article about how Apple's branding of the iPad is leading the company toward a world where iPad is with ubiquitous products we use in our everyday lives - car, toaster, oven as the article states.

The problem is a problem we are already facing in our industry with hotels purchasing iPads at a breakneck pace - if you buy an app on the iPad 1 it may not work on the iPad 3. Not to mention the complexity of how to handle this internally with our own apps.

In any case, the iPad is quite useful in a hotel; from a Concierge using to conduct business while anywhere in the hotel, to a meeting planner showing the luxury elements of the hotel in a virtual meeting room setting while selling the hotel's services, to the front desk having a deep conversation with our guests and showing points of interest around the city / neighborhood and bringing the city to live right there in the lobby.

The iPad is undoubtedly very utilitarian and will be with us for a while. It is up to us to solve the app puzzle.

Get the InterContinental Kitchen Cookbook app here

Apple's Slick iPad Branding Hides A Broken App Infrastructure | Co.Design: business + innovation + design:

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PBS Illustrates the fundamentals of product design

2012-01-03T09:23:00.000-05:00

A quick video on how to approach design and why people should be at the core of any process.

XBox Kinect used in Retail Stores to track shoppers

2012-01-03T09:00:00.000-05:00

The XBox Kinect is finding its way into unexpected industries doing unexpected things. Here is another use of this technology as a research tool to track shoppers' behavior.

http://www.springwise.com/retail/retail-stores-research-tool-kinect-track-shoppers-behavior/