Samsung and Swisscom Hospitality Services have unveiled their first joint ConnectedHotel TV installation at Hotel La Palma in Stresa, Italy. The co-developed solution addresses the industry’s need for enhanced guest interactivity, content flexibility and cost effectiveness. It leverages Swisscom’s award-winning, set-top box free Connected TV technology, matching it with the advanced capabilities of Samsung’s Smart hospitality TVs.
Swisscom Hospitality introduced ConnectedHotel TV in late 2010 as the first hospitality solution delivering interactive high definition television, video-on-demand and internet capabilities on existing hotel networks, whether they be Coax or CAT5/6/7, and without the need for (and additional cost of) extra HDMI cabling or a set-top box in the room. Since then, ConnectedHotel TV has delivered a highly differentiating guest experience, has driven significant CAPEX cost savings, has allowed true energy management, and has simplified installation and maintenance in more than 100 first-class hotels worldwide.
Samsung’s new range of hospitality LED TVs combine superior picture quality and enhanced energy efficiency in a sleek form factor. The new line-up features a breadth of LED TVs, including eight different models that range in size from 28in to 65in in order to meet virtually any space, from a standard room to a palatial suite. While features vary by model, the line’s innovations include rich, customizable content in full HD 1080p as well as dynamic interactivity and advanced content management capabilities.
This new ConnectedHotel TV solution builds on proven features to enable the addition of new ones from Samsung’s extended TV capabilities: Samsung’s H-Browser series of TVs will allow hoteliers to present their guests’ favourite web applications (Netflix, YouTube, Vimeo, Flickr, Picasa, etc.) as well as any dynamic hotel content (videos, web pages, booking portals) through the hotel-branded user interface. Moreover, the adoption of HTML 5 by Samsung and Swisscom alike allows further, interactive hotel applications such as online ordering and tablet-based room controls to be ‘connected’ to the TV system. Finally, Samsung’s hospitality screens are ‘guest device ready’, thus opening the door for enhanced connectivity and interactivity offerings through the Swisscom-managed Wireless hotel network.
"We are delighted to work alongside Swisscom as a launch partner for our Hospitality TVs here in Europe," says Brendan Clarke, senior manager hospitality for Samsung’s European Display Organization. "Swisscom’s positioning as a global hotel IT specialist meets well with our intention to better serve the industry through a dedicated product line whose design and functionality is on a par with our consumer market products. Moreover, Swisscom’s flexible in-room entertainment platforms, together with their expertise as a leading hospitality network operator, make them a preferred development partner for us in the hospitality market."
The joint solution is the fruit of more than six months of stringent development work between Seoul and Geneva. Samsung designed their HA/HBX90 series to be compliant with Swisscom’s Application Programming Interface (API), and both partners agreed on Samsung LYNK TMDRM Digital Rights Management to securely manage content all the way to the TV screen.
"We are proud to integrate Samsung’s smart hospitality TV screens with our ConnectedHotel TV technology", says Thomas di Giacomo, chief technology officer for Swisscom Hospitality Services. "Our global clients value this partnership as it gives them additional confidence about our ability to ensure a reliable supply of cutting-edge hospitality screens. Beyond that, we look forward to consolidating our partnership with Samsung as regards their mobile platforms to enable a seamless guest experience across multiple devices, including smartphones as well as tablets and the guest room TV."
Click here to see a short video testimonial from Hotel La Palma owner, Stefano Zanetta.