Hotels Called to Upgrade Technology

Georg Mayer of German-based Deuromedia Technologies (right) suggested that Greek hoteliers could provide in-room infotainment offers at a low package price that would include extensive international television, video on demand, Internet, etc. “Another advantage is that following the use of the multimedia package the customer’s bill will read ‘Communication Services’ upon departure,” he said.

Greek hotels must adapt to the needs of the 21st century customer, whose habits and demands in regards to technology have increased over the past, according to conclusions of the first Hotel Experience Day conference held recently in Athens. It was held under the auspices of the Association of Greek Tourism Enterprises.

The main theme of the conference was the low competitiveness of the Greek tourism market in the field of information technology for infrastructure, technology and complex technical support provided to customers.

One of the main topics discussed at the conference was if specific hotel services should be charged to the customer or positioned as free.

The director of finance of the Athenaeum Intercontinental, Keith Mootan, raised the question: Should the Internet be included in the room charge or should it be considered an extra amenity?

Some hotel owners debated whether the specific charge should depend on what the customer uses the Internet for, while others spoke of limited free access to the guests.

Stavros Vogiatzis, IT manager of the Athenaeum InterContinental, supported that guest satisfaction is a hotels top priority but mentioned that hotels must break even with the cost of the installation of high quality Internet. “Over the last 15 months we have invested some 400,000 euros for a complete upgrade of the Internet service,” he said.