By Simon Handby, Technology Writer
In today’s digital world, travelers tend to carry and rely on multiple gadgets. Modern smartphones, for example, are increasingly a travel essential, used to store our e-tickets and digital boarding passes, to navigate foreign cities, snap photos, capture videos, and increasingly to gain keyless entry to hotels.
They’re also a vital lifeline to keep in touch with home, whether it’s posting Instagram updates, messaging friends, or keeping a remote eye on work. According to a recent survey, the average American checks their phone about 262 times per day [1]. Amazingly, 44% of adults still check work-related emails while they’re on vacation! [2].
- The tech challenges facing hotels
- Wake up to the value of hotel alarm clocks
- Provide easy charging with Brandstand’s power & charging products
Of course, we don’t just take smartphones with us when we travel. There are often laptops and tablets stuffed into our bags, digital cameras and noise-canceling headphones, smart watches, fitness trackers, portable games machines and e-readers. Even our luggage can now be a gadget. The Airwheel SR5 robot suitcase can follow you autonomously, sounding an alarm if you get separated from it.
And all these many gizmos and gadgets have one thing in common - they’re all powered by batteries that need regular recharging.
So, hotels should aim to make charging easy
The last thing people want is to carry around additional battery packs, charging cables and multiple power adapters to cope with all their different devices. Nor do they want to grapple with different international power outlets or be faced with a room that doesn’t have enough free charging points.
Online surveys have long cited the availability of charging ports as a key customer requirement. But as hotels begin to deliver on the promise of smarter rooms, hotel guests – especially millennials – are keen to see wireless charging functionality alongside a proliferation of USB ports and accessible power outlets. After all, there are now more than a billion devices supporting wireless charging, a market that’s expected to triple in size over the next five years [3]. Wireless charging is no longer just a useful novelty.
Guests want handy cell phone charging stations
The hotel business got the message about providing fast and reliable Wi-Fi years ago. But there are still some establishments where power outlets are limited in number or inconveniently located. It’s not just hotel rooms where charging is needed either. Lobbies, meeting rooms, bars and restaurants are all locations where forward-looking hotels can add value, enabling customers to juice up their batteries while relaxing, chatting or just killing time waiting for their next appointment.
The Brandstand Cubie features convenient power outlets and USB ports for easy charging.
Of course, this is all easier said than done. There’s an expense involved and, unlike improving hotel Wi-Fi, the ROI for wired/wireless charging points might not seem immediately obvious. But every time you make a guest’s life easier, and every time you provide a service they don’t need to ask for, your online ratings and reputation could get that little bit better.
Guests want wired and wireless hotel charging solutions
One approach to the charging problem is to replace standard wall sockets with updated units equipped with built-in USB ports. Designed specifically with the hospitality industry in mind, these can include surge protection, tamper-resistant sockets, and even wireless charging options for increased flexibility.
- Installation required: YES
- Extra power sockets: YES
- USB charging: YES
- Wireless charging: YES (Using Brandstand CubieSpot)
- Extra features: N/A
A less invasive alternative is simply to add power blocks (also known as power bars, extension sockets and multiplugs). Solutions like the Brandstand Cubie are cost effective and can provide additional power sockets and USB ports. It’s quick and simple to retrofit these solutions too, by securing them to hotel desks, tables and other furniture, or next to bedside tables and nightstands.
- Installation required: NO
- Extra power sockets: YES
- USB charging: YES
- Wireless charging: YES (Using Brandstand CubieVia)
- Extra features: N/A
A third option, and one perfect for guest rooms, is to add a multifunction digital alarm clock. The Brandstand CubieTime, for example, pairs an intuitive alarm clock with 2x power outlets and 2x USB Charging Ports. The Brandstand CubieBlue adds a Bluetooth® speaker, while the Brandstand CubieTrio and Brandstand CubieTrio+ incorporate Qi Wireless charging functionality.
- Installation required: NO
- Extra power sockets: YES
- USB charging: YES
- Wireless charging: YES
-
Extra features: Digital alarm clock, Bluetooth® speaker, USB Optimized for tablet charging
Guests want tech that’s simple to use and works every time
Brandstand’s dedicated charging products are designed and manufactured to withstand the rigors of life in the hospitality industry. All of our Cubie products are engineered and tested to the highest standards, employing tamper resistant sockets and surge/spill protection to ensure the safety of guests and their devices, as well as the hotel itself.
All Brandstand alarm clocks are designed to withstand years of daily use, its sockets built and tested for thousands of insertion cycles. There’s also very little setup needed. Alarm clocks like the compact Brandstand CubieWink are a quick and easy room upgrade, providing a convenient solution for guests to charge their devices via dual USB ports.
The key to any hotel’s success is to make its guests feel special and to ensure that their stay is as comfortable and as stress-free as possible. There are many facets to a good hotel operation – cleanliness, excellent service, modern facilities and so on.
But by far the most effective approach is to offer those little extras that turn a ‘good’ stay into a ‘great’ one - a complimentary drink on arrival, free Wi-Fi, access to Netflix, and an easy way to charge all those gadgets that today’s guests can’t live without.
Provide easy charging for your hotel guests with Brandstand’s power & charging products.
- Discover Brandstand power & charging products (US)
- Explore Brandstand power & charging products (UK/EU)
References
[1] https://www.reviews.org/mobile/cell-phone-addiction/
[2] https://www.slicktext.com/blog/2019/10/smartphone-addiction-statistics/
[3] https://www.prnewswire.co.uk/news-releases/wireless-charging-market-worth-13-4-billion-by-2026-exclusive-report-by-marketsandmarkets-tm--828410541.html
