by Jeff Loether*
So many changes are taking place in today's world of presentation, communication and entertainment technologies in hotels that it is difficult to know what to do today to be prepared for tomorrow. We have been asked this question and have been learning the answers to it for over 25 years with over 1,000 hotel projects around the world.
To understand this challenge we have assumed a perspective that has led us to study what we call Architecture: "How the advance of technologies affects the hotel environment, how the latter affects the effectiveness of technologies, and how all this influences the Guest Quality Experience".
Event spaces
We will start by looking at the "Envelope" or the interior architecture. The distribution of the enclosures, the finishes, the arrangement of the furniture, the location of the entrance and the service doors, the windows, the configuration of the ceiling, etc. guide the development and design, so that these elements contribute at best and at least do not diminish the effectiveness or quality of the anticipated technological elements. Surveys of event organizers and the specific study groups in which we participate show that guests have raised their expectations regarding the quality of their audiovisual experiences, while more complaints are made about the inability to listen or understand. All these comments are connected to the acoustics of the enclosures, the quality of the built-in systems and the use of portable audiovisual systems. The highest expectations are the result of incredible improvements in home theaters, music services and technology available to consumers; our guests are becoming more demanding when it comes to quality experiences!
The traditional design of the space with flexible functions has not changed much in the last 20 years. Hotel ballrooms remain a box with fragile mobile divisions. Although there are operable divisions of excellent quality on the market, we see that these are first subspecified, and then subjected to creative engineering as the project progresses. Unfortunately, this condition will put the hotel at risk for the next twenty years, leading to sound isolation problems between adjacent lounges. What is usually done to remedy this is to leave empty rooms between rooms with conferences, which in the long run, combined with the discounts that are made to disgruntled guests, costs more than installing the best divisions from the beginning.
Many times the architecture of the event space has not been developed thinking about the realization or production of events. The way guests approach and move around the space is called "show flow," and these spaces should be designed to accommodate that flow naturally and intuitively. The same applies to the infrastructure that, if not done taking into account the real needs of the producers of the event and the requirements of the realization, ends up requiring laying bundles of cables for the guest or service entrances.
To support presentation and entertainment technology, the acoustic design of the event space includes the control of reverberation and echoes, as well as isolation of adjacent spaces and background noise. Reverberation and echoes are best handled by the proper use of absorption and diffusion treatments on vertical wall surfaces, including the finishes of operable divisions.
Infrastructure
Once we have addressed the "envelope", we look at the "infrastructure", which must be provided to support the effective use of advanced technology. Problems arise such as the quality of technical power and grounding, the acoustic behaviors of mechanical systems, such as CVAC. The distribution of the structure of the ceilings and ceilings for the rigging and suspension points, the power of the event, architectural elements and controls and lighting elements, etc., everything must be taken into account.
As we know that most events that are organized will use technological elements for portable events; the infrastructure must be designed to support the use of such equipment. All infrastructure elements must be as flexible as the architecture and events it serves; we recommend creating an accessible electrical conductor channel and a solid wiring plant with digital and analog connection lines throughout the space and up to key points in the hotel's communications and computer rooms.
Another challenge is the current design trend of creating an open ceiling in the form of a spider web to give access to the structure from the top (see photo 1). This exposes the structure and elements of CVAC in the ceiling spaces and requires careful coordination of acoustics and mechanical design to ensure that the enclosure does not end up with intolerably high background noise levels.
Technology
Finally, we prescribe and integrate presentation, event or entertainment technologies into the space. It is important to note that, for many full-service hotels that use third-party sellers of audiovisual services, the only built-in systems are "house sound" systems; all other audiovisual equipment is portable and is therefore supplied by the seller. For now, high-end four- and five-star hotels, conference centers, purpose-built resorts and retreats, and high-tech boutique hotels and specialized staff require much more than technology to be incorporated and integrated with interior architecture. As they say "if it is not seen, it does not exist" when it is not in use and is easily accessible when needed. Some of the current trends in event technology include "the displacement of places" and "the displacement of times" or digital events in which attendees and presenters can be located anywhere else and witness the event via video teleconference, webcast or other technologies. The acoustics of the enclosure, the lighting and the finishes are basic to achieve a satisfactory quality of these technologies.
We recommend, for most full-service hotels that employ external audiovisual services, that they incorporate a minimum of basic technologies. This usually means quality internal sound systems for both intelligible reinforcement and flexible cabling infrastructure (av networks, connection lines, utilities, electricity).
Design and renovation strategy for event spaces
For each renovation or new construction project, plan now how the interior architecture and infrastructure can accommodate wearable event technology and offer access to services. The time to have the right enclosure is now. If you are renovating, provide the appropriate infrastructure, such as power for displays, rigging and suspension points, inputs/outputs and connection lines, etc., while the walls and ceilings are open. It is much more difficult to go back later and recondition these elements in a newly remodeled enclosure. Take care of architectural acoustics: Do everything you can to reduce the background noise levels of CVAC systems. Reduce reverberation and echoes by installing suitable absorption and diffusion materials on walls. And improve sound isolation to and from adjacent spaces by analyzing current conditions, covering holes, and improving the quality of subdivisions, including removable subdivisions.
In-room entertainment technologies
Technology: "Mine is better than yours"
The first thing we must understand. guests already own and travel with their preferred digital technology: laptops, iPods, PDAs. Don't try to compete with what you already have. Instead, design your rooms to accommodate the technology that the guest is provisioned with. Give them what they already have at home: a great flat screen and sound system. Provide them with professional jackpack connection terminals and high-speed internet access with good bandwidth (wired and wireless) to allow them to connect their computers and iPods (see the photo on the flat screen with the jackpack terminals). Here's an interesting implication: how will it affect the quality of extinguishing divisions if flat-screen TVs and iPods are installed in the room? "Once a long time ago" the specifications of the folding divisions were established when the TVs had 2-watt amplifiers and there was a clock radio on the bedside table. Now, we have TVs with 50-watt stereo sound and radios with Bose waveguides on the bedside tables. Our prediction: complaints about insulation problems in rooms will increase.A good opportunity to improve sound insulation from one room to another before problems arise.
Content: "I want my MTV"
Another concept that is important to be clear about: guests are already traveling with your content, either on board their electronic devices or because of the internet access you provide them. Don't try to compete with broadcasters. Instead, favor the guest's need to connect to the content of their preference.
Increasingly, guests are accessing content at home using a genre of internet media server products, such as Slingbox(www.slingmedia.com). It is also well known www.YouTube.com as an internet video content provider. Apple TV has announced that this year it will begin offering video-on-demand services. All this content wants to be transmitted through ITS high-speed internet service and that will end up beating systems that are not robust enough.
What this indicates is that guests will require colossal amounts of bandwidth on their room's internet. There is only one way to provide one band with this width: fiber optic cables for the rooms. Wireless systems will NOT; Internet video takes up too much bandwidth. Yes, you must have wireless access, but to stay in the competition in the future, you need to start installing fiber now.
There are several strategies for doing this that fall outside the scope of this article. But it is inevitable that this will happen. A hotel won't gain a good reputation for having excellent high-speed internet access, but you WILL gain a bad reputation if you don't.
Summary: "The Future is no longer what it was..."
So what we want to suggest is that you go back to the basics in a good way. Build great rooms, with a robust infrastructure to support them, and integrate good, quality basic systems that accommodate the wearable technology of today and the future of tomorrow. Plan ahead carefully, and your building and infrastructure can last for decades.
* President and founder of Electro-Media Design, an independent acoustics and audiovisual consulting firm in Washington, DC.
Jeff
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