City Inn. A design for life.
Guests can use their iMac to work on confidential data, secure in the knowledge they’ll leave no valuable information behind. The iMacs are equipped with Faronics’ Deep Freeze software, which deletes anything saved to the machines and returns them to their original state when the Mac is shut down.
This means guests can use the iMacs just as they would their own computers, transferring files to a USB stick or via MobileMe at the end of their stay. “Our guests don’t need to worry about data security”, adds O'Connor. “They don’t even need to bring their laptop if they know they’re staying in one of our rooms”.
After the initial system trail in its Manchester branch, City Inn has since installed iMacs in each of its five hotels. “It was a little worrying when we first opened up in Manchester”, he admits. “Before opening we probably drove Apple and Direct Streams to distraction. But it has been a great success and I’m confident now we did the right thing”.
So why did City Inn abandon the traditional television in favor of a Mac? O’Connor explains: “These days, homes and offices can’t function without a computer, and in future, we think the same will apply to hotel rooms”.
“You don’t have the full in-room entertainment experience without a computer in your room”, he adds. “I think that’s the way the hotel industry has to go. It has been totally appropriate for City Inn to be at the forefront of innovating and delivering that; it’s so what we’re about as a brand – to innovate, to take an independent approach, and to offer something with the quality, reputation and outstanding performance of Apple”.
Operational costs are minimal thanks to the moderately low support and maintenance costs for the iMac. Businessmen like O’Connor can also appreciate the platform’s relative security against online viruses and its inherent reliability.
But perhaps customer reaction is the biggest test, and that has been overwhelmingly positive. A typical comment from customers is “I loved the iMac in the room”. O’Connor has noted how they revel in the iMac’s design aesthetic, and the way in which it adds a ‘wow’ factor to each of the clean, brightly-designed, and newly-built guest rooms.
“Customers have the right to expect the very best standards of technology and entertainment when they come to a hotel room, but bar our thousand or so rooms in the UK, they aren’t getting that at the moment”, he observes. “You have to give customers what they want or they’ll go elsewhere”.
“For example, in our Westminster hotel, we have 460 rooms we need to sell every day. If we don’t sell them on the day, the opportunity is lost forever. As an integral part of our offer, we think the iMacs help us. We’re open 365 days so we’re exposing maybe 160,000 people each year to Apple’s iMacs in this hotel alone”.
“With this solution, we have taken an outstanding piece of kit from one of the world’s foremost technology providers, and we're giving customers what they should rightfully expect; an in-room entertainment/multimedia capability that is equal to that which they will have in their home or office”.
