Crave’s latest installation, at AMResorts® new Breathless® Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa, will be fully integrated with Honeywell’s INNCOM® technology. As well as having access to the usual features of Crave’s acclaimed in-room tablet systems, residents of the 526-room resort will also have control over their room lighting and AC, via their in-room tablets.
“This is something we’ve been moving towards for some time,” said Crave Chief Commercial Officer Tim Butterworth. “We’ve expanded and finessed the Crave solution to such an extent that it’s now possible for guests to have access to virtually all hotel services via the in-room tablets, but up to this point the focus has been on things outside the room – room service orders, spa bookings, transport and wake-up call requests and so on. By integrating with the INNCOM system we’ll create an additional emphasis on what happens inside the room itself. Guests will now have control over everything from making a private reservation for dinner on the beach to dimming the lights through a single in-room device.”
The showcase for the new integration is the latest Crave installation for AMResorts, which is rolling out Crave’s in-room tablets as a standard feature in all new properties under its Secrets® Resorts & Spas, Breathless® Resorts & Spas and Zoëtry® Wellness & Spa Resorts brands in the Caribbean and Latin America. Crave tablets already feature in all guest rooms at Secrets Papagayo in Costa Rica, Breathless Cabo San Lucas Resort & Spa and Secrets Akumal Riviera Maya in Mexico, and Secrets Playa Bonita Panama Resort & Spa. Breathless Riviera Cancun Resort & Spa is the fifth Crave installation within the AMResorts portfolio, but the first to include the integration with INNCOM.
Crave’s custom-made in-room tablets have been taking the hospitality world by storm in recent years, with the UK-based company now at the forefront of the guest-facing hotel technology market in both Europe and the Americas. All the AMResorts properties feature the T2, an upgraded version of the groundbreaking Crave Tablet, the first tablet designed specifically for use in a hotel setting. Preloaded with Crave’s unique proprietary operating system, the tablets replace all printed guest communications with instantly updateable digital menus and directories, and a comprehensive range of options for instant ordering, tailored guest communications and push-messaging.
Honeywell, meanwhile, has a long history of providing award-winning room automation, covering everything from temperature and humidity control to minibar monitoring. Crucially, its systems not only allow for enhanced control of in-room features by guests; they also enable major energy cost savings through such features as multi-sensor occupancy detection.
According to AMResorts’ Director of IT, Baldemar Romo, innovative technology is a key element of the company’s resort brands.
“Crave’s tablets have enabled us to move away from outdated paper-based in-room communications in a way that fits perfectly with the casual yet sophisticated style of our adults-only resorts. Integrating that communications technology with the room automation systems is a natural further step. It will provide a totally seamless in-room guest experience,” he said, adding that combining the significant energy savings associated with INNCOM’s systems with the well-attested benefits of Crave’s offer in terms of boosting room service revenues and increasing upselling of onsite services, made excellent commercial sense. “This sort of cutting-edge technology development manages to greatly enhance the guest experience while cutting operating costs and boosting revenues at the same time, which is really the optimum scenario from a hotel management perspective,” he said.
