Philips introduces simplicity to the hotel experience

London, United Kingdom – Royal Philips Electronics today showcases a fully customizable hotel concept designed to put the consumer at the heart of the hotel experience and enable hotel owners to optimize their operating costs.



Opening at Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam in early 2008, the first implementation of Philips ‘One Star is Born’ project by hotel chain citizenM has been developed to offer guests ‘affordable luxury’. A factory built, pre-fabricated hotel room that can be delivered on site, becoming instantly operational with the connection of just four cables. Additional modular rooms can be delivered onsite to facilitate increased demand.

At the heart of the room is a portable interface, the Moodpad, which controls the room’s ambient lighting solutions so that guests can tune their room to their personal needs. At the touch of a button, guests can switch from warm colors, closed blinds, digital art, ambiance music and a cozy temperature to more functional lighting and ambience that is optimized for mobile working. Personal preferences are stored on a central server and a personal RFID ( Radio Frequency Identification) card which means no more waiting lines at a reception desk. This mobile guest profile system allows visitors to pre-program the room mood to their pre-selected settings. A FlatTV offers free access to theme channels, movies and online content and the room comes equipped with free wireless internet access and free movie channels.



Simplicity benefits for the hospitality industry
In addition to the benefits to guests, the Philips One Star is Born offers hotel staff and owners an integrated solution that can deliver cost savings of up to 50% due to a remote maintenance system. The RFID enabled self-check-in and check-out service means fewer staff are needed to operate the accommodation. Cleaning personnel can work more efficiently as the housekeeping status of a room is automatically communicated to a central office. Remote monitoring checks ensure all equipment in the room is working and confirms the availability of room accommodation.



“citizenM approached Philips with the objective of revolutionizing the hotel market by delivering ‘affordable luxury’. We were able to bring simplicity to the One Star is Born project for citizenM because we understand consumers and how to apply innovative design and technology. We believe the versatility of this concept has tremendous potential for use in a variety of other environments as well, including businesses, stadiums, hospitals or even nursing homes,” says Ruud van Vessem, Vice-President of Philips Applied Technologies.



“For example, elderly people often have very specific needs that we would like to address with personal care. We are able to create an interactive intelligent environment with rooms that are capable of recognizing people through sensor technology and RFID. With the ability of remote monitoring, nursing homes will be able to realize environments that are fine-tuned to the behavior and the individual needs that patients may have.”