A Swedish hotel intelligence organization has chosen the Middle East as the launch pad for its new software product designed exclusively for the hospitality industry. Hoteligence is a cloud-based software platform which helps hotels to increase revenue, offer improved room entertainment, and track and analyze guests' buying behavior in order to optimise business performance. In a launch event with the Swedish Trade Council in Media City, Dubai recently, the entrepreneur behind the intelligence software explained why the Middle East had been pinpointed as the ideal location in which to introduce the concept. “This market is one of the most robust in the world; latest research tells us that more than 150 new hotels will be built in the Middle East and Africa in 2013 and already this year we have seen more than 10,500 rooms added,” said Martin Ljunggren Chevalley, CEO and co-founder of Hoteligence. “Hoteligence is all about offering guests relevant content and services at the relevant time. Guests can choose what and when they want to watch something, and they can choose which channel, which device and in which location in the hotel. We make this possible with great content across all media.” “This is a sophisticated, yet simple piece of software which I can see would offer our guests value added benefits as well as giving us unique customer insight,” said Naeem Darkazally, Group Director of Sales & Marketing at Abjar which represents brands such as Ritz Carlton, who attended the launch event at the Swedish Trade Council. “We are continuing our discussions with the team behind Hoteligence and we will see if this is something we could offer in our premium hotels rooms.” Operating across televisions, all mobile devices such as the iPhone, iPad and Android-devices as well as laptops, all the content, products and services become available at the guests' fingertips, without the need to download any apps. When using on the TV, guests use one single wireless “Wii-style” remote to point, click, buy and type. The system also runs popular games such as Angry Birds, is connected to social media platforms Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+ and Skype, runs music services such as Spotify and allows users to set up personalized profiles if they choose. One of the aims is to help hoteliers connect in a more meaningful way with their guests and to provide them with access to free marketing tools. The software communicates with hotel guests in a seamless way, offering them access to movies, games, room service, a digital mini bar, gift shop and more. Now in the final testing stage, the software is anticipated to be available this month. — SG
