TigerTMS solution to offer guest services, advertising and room control functions for five-star and boutique hotels
TigerTMS solution to offer guest services, advertising and room control functions for five-star and boutique hotels
Hospitality voice and data integration provider, TigerTMS today launched the first application for the Apple iPad designed specifically for the hotel and hospitality sector.
The developer said its TigerTMS Interactive Personal Guest Services (iPGS) software offers a range of guest services and room control functions. It is available as either an on-premise installation, hosted service or as a download via the Apple store and is integrated with front-of-house systems like Fidelio, PAR Springer Miller and Brilliant.
Keen early adopters
“We are already in discussion with a well known five-star hotel in London and several international chains have units under evaluation at the moment,” explains Simon M. Udell, TigerTMS managing director, “The software is not just a gimmick, as it allows hotels to differentiate its offering and has practical advantages, such as removing the need to keep updating guest directories and to help make visitors aware of special offers, events or new services available within each hotel.”
For multi-site hotel chains, the application has been designed to be location aware and re-configure itself to deliver services based on the facilities available at each hotel. These can range from information services such as local maps, weather and events though to traditional room services such as ordering meals, checking out and receiving voicemail.
“iPGS can be delivered as a completely managed service, with information pushed from our hosted servers directly to each device,” added Udell, “This allows a hotel to quickly deploy devices and not have to worry about integration with front office applications, management of application servers or updates for the device.”
iPGS is supplied with an accompanying management application, which the company said enables guest services to be customised and supports English, French, German, Spanish, Italian and Mandarin Chinese. “The flexibility of the management interface allows additional languages to be created and uploaded depending on the preference of the guest at check-in,” explained Udell.
Digital advertising platform
Still images and full motion video advertising for both hotel services and local businesses can also be pushed to the device. For corporate events taking place at a hotel, the device can automatically upload delegate information including agendas, keynote speeches and promotional material. “With the exceptional battery life of the iPAD, touchscreen and icon driven interface – guests can quickly access information without any user training and built-in services such as web browsing and email are all still available.” Udell said.
The XML based software also has interfaces for leading room control systems found in upscale hotels to control lights, air conditioning and pay-per-view events.
The prototype iPGS concept was showcased at the recent HITECH 2010 Hospitality Technology Show in Orlando, Florida at the end of June and is the first application designed specifically for the hotel and hospitality sector. He added: “We already have a generic HTML based version, which will work on any device with a browser And we are now working on specific versions for both Android and Symbian operating systems, which will share common functionality to allow hotels to deploy mobile solutions for a range of devices.”
The iPGS will be available for less than £3.50 per month as a hosted service based on a hotel with 200 units and will also be available as a direct download from the Apple store with pricing to be confirmed, according to its developer.
Udell added: “The download version allows guests who already own an iPad to walk into any hotel running our service and have the application instantly provide them with general services prior to check in and enhanced services after they have checked in.”
