UAE:
The Holiday Inn at Dubai’s Al-Maktoum Airport and the adjacent Staybridge Suites Dubai Al-Maktoum Airport have deployed an end-to-end, fully integrated Exterity IPTV and digital signage system in order to help the hotel owners keep pace with the needs of the modern business traveller.
Located close to both the airport and to Dubai’s central transportation hub, the complementary hotels provide scope for layovers, short visits or longer-term stays, as well as extensive conference and other event facilities. In choosing an IPTV and digital signage solution, both hotels required a leading-edge entertainment and information system that could be relied on to meet the needs of both the business and leisure guests staying onsite or outside visitors attending events for the day.
“Ahead of the project going live, there were many solutions to examine – some of which we had tried in the past and others that were new to us, like Exterity,” said Shanu Ammunni, director of information technology at Ishraq Hospitality. “Exterity was the clear choice based on its proven reliability in hospitality environments and comprehensive feature set. Throughout the whole process, Exterity lived up to our high expectations, with the solution being both flexible and easy to use. In fact, the project’s success has been noticed by the wider group, which is now considering Exterity for other hotels within Dubai and other regions.”
The Exterity system delivers 125 channels of premium TV content as well as hotel-branded infomercials to approximately 1,000 screens across 606 rooms and suites, plus public areas such as lobbies, bars and meeting rooms. It also provides integrated support for the hotels’ preferred choice of Samsung hospitality TVs. Guests can connect their own mobile devices to the IPTV system to access additional on-demand video services via site-wide high-speed internet access.
The Exterity deployment also delivers seamless integration with the OPERA property management and point of sale systems used by both hotels to provide guests with in-room access to room service, billing, concierge services and spa bookings directly from screens in each room and suite. Finally, the solution also powers digital signage screens across both Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites to provide wayfinding and other information such as marketing within the spas, bars, restaurants and common areas like lobbies, landings and elevators. It is customisable for businesses using meeting and conference rooms, enabling hotel staff to create welcome messages, branding and other communications.
“With travel bans beginning to ease and travellers preparing for hotel stays worldwide once again, there is an expectation that hospitality venues be technologically advanced to assure guests of a welcome, comfortable and ‘safe-as-home’ experience,” commented Victor Hasan, regional sales manager, hospitality in the Middle East at Exterity. “The upgrade undertaken by Holiday Inn and Staybridge Suites Dubai Al-Maktoum Airport highlights the importance of hoteliers investing in cutting-edge IPTV and video communications to deliver modern guest experiences. We are incredibly proud Exterity was chosen to fulfil this state-of-the-art upgrade.”
