We had a chance to catch up with Mark Brooks-Belcher of Quadriga after we didn’t quite manage to meet at ISE to discuss the company’s recent deal with Philips Display Solutions to cover hospitality TV and digital signage. Philips and Quadriga have worked together in this area for some 30 years or so and Brooks-Belcher told us that Quadriga finds Philips an easy company to work with.
Under the deal, which is aimed to exploit the new software platform that we reported on in our ISE report (Philips Unifies Around Android). The new platform is intended to allow hospitality providers to manage both the in-room TV experience of guests and digital signage around the hotel or other establishment, from a single interface. Up to now, these systems have typically been independent and hotels do not give, for example, optimum access to information about facilities and events being held. “Lost guests” are a problem for the hoteliers and guests, alike.
Quadriga will work with the hotel companies that it has known for many years to help them to offer a consistent and high quality experience across the properties that they manage. As Brooks-Belcher said, these companies spend a lot of money on corporate branding, but this is not always reflected in all the areas of the digital output. Further, while hotels spend a lot of money on public spaces, many guests don’t really make the most of the facilities and tend to “hunker down” in their rooms. Hotels would like to help to develop more of a sense of community among guests.
The firm sees opportunities to use digital signage to allow better wayfinding and even aspects of videoconferencing using digital signage hardware and networks or even dedicated video conferencing “booths”. As Brooks-Belcher pointed out, millenials these days want all their stuff “right now” and where they are.
Quadriga sees its strengths as including the ability to support both regional and global projects.
Analyst Comment
As Ken pointed out in his recent Display Daily, the value of a car to a buyer depends increasingly on the communication technology available. I have certainly made hotel booking decisions purely on the basis of my experiences with the Wi-fi, so these issues are likely to get even more important as we go forward. I was struck at ISE that the hotel was the first that I have stayed in that is relatively new (converted from offices) but that has simply not bothered to put in any kind of phone system. Given that there was good Wi-fi, it’s slightly strange that the hotel didn’t have any kind of messaging set up to use it. A colleague that needed to meet a guest found that the only way to find if they were in their room was for a hotel employee to go to the room to check. That doesn’t seem very efficient! (BR)
