Case Study – Gibraltar Hotel
Guest television services are an everyday part of life in any hotel, they are quite literally a part of the furniture but, when the technology does not work quite how it should, the problems can begin to turn a passive part of hotel life into a burden for its staff and guests.
Gibraltar Hotel Bowral in New South Wales is a privately owned, attractive, modern and high class hotel venue, with 8.5ha of land, golf course, high class restaurants and bars and a luxury spa – a perfect venue for any event, occasion or luxury break.
For a time however, the TV services guests were receiving far from matched the exceptionally high standard set by the rest of the venue. Owner and founder Liz Uliana knew something had to be done. “We chose a highly reputable brand for our IPTV, digital signage and video on demand installation and had confidence that it would fit our venue perfectly, however, it soon became obvious that the solution wasn’t working the way it should and something needed to change.”
In fact, the existing system was cause for severe concern averaging between eight to 15 complaints per day from paying guests. This resulted in staff being distracted from important customer care duties while they tried to resolve problems with technology that they did not fully understand.
“We decided that enough was enough and looked into the market for an alternate solution. Our AV supplier recommended we spoke with Tripleplay and we’re absolutely delighted that we did.”
The company specified a system that would suit all of Gibraltar Hotel’s requirements, fully integrating IPTV, video on demand and digital signage through a single server, while also creating a stylish and customised guest user portal. It took just one day to swap out the existing solution and instantly reduced guest TV related complaints to zero overnight.
Ms Uliana explains, “We want our staff and our venue to ensure a special stay for all guests and for anything to detract from that is something we were desperate to avoid. With the help of Tripleplay not only are our TV services working as they should, the television quality is now much better and it has become the passive technology that we always knew it should be.”
Through their TV user portal guests can access a number of services, including the ability to stream the latest blockbuster movies, find out more about the hotel through the digital compendium, view a full electronic program guide and check out of their room at the end of their stay.
Aside from the television system, digital signage was implemented around the hotel, providing up-to-date news and promotions and events happening around the hotel. Placed in strategic communal areas, function rooms, bars and restaurants it has improved guest communications and awareness.
In all, the solution has supplied Gibraltar Hotel with exactly the service they had hoped for, enabling simplistic growth if needed and further extension of services when required. The ability to add golf tee-off times, book restaurant tables and room service or spa services can be added to the in-room services if and when the hotel needs them, ensuring the system is future proof.
Ms Uliana added, “When we chose our partner for this we looked for somebody leading edge rather than ‘bleeding edge’. We wanted a solution that is tried and tested, and with Tripleplay’s global reputation for providing these solutions into the hotel industry we knew that’s exactly what we were getting.”
