blue TV Host
«Our own TV info channel has cut our printing costs by 75 percent.»
Stefan Welschen
Manager, Hotel Ambassador Brig
The story in brief:
Life is good at the Hotel Ambassador in Brig, where guests are impressed not only by the modern rooms and culinary delights, but also by the high-quality information service on the hotel’s own TV channel.
Challenge
The four-star Hotel Ambassador Brig wants to offer its guests top-quality information and entertainment. Printing everything used to take up a great deal of time and effort, not to mention the cost. Meanwhile, its TV system did not include enough channels and support times were limited.
Hotel Ambassador
- Branch: Hotel industry
- Location: Brig
- Gault&Millau points: 13
- Employees: 22
The project with Swisscom
- TV and WLAN incl. support for a fixed monthly cost
- Easy-to-manage information channel
- 75% reduction on printing costs
Hotel Ambassador successfully uses this Swisscom product
blue TV Host
blue TV Host also brings Switzerland’s most popular television to homes and hotels. The complete package includes blue TV with more than 300 channels, Wi-Fi for guests and residents as well as Managed LAN. blue TV Host offers an info channel for broadcasting your up-to-the-minute news and offers. Thanks to centralised control and activation, you save time and money. Plus, there is an Inhouse Channel for your own live video broadcasts.
Solution
Checking in at a hotel can sometimes be a rather stressful experience, with too much information to absorb in too short a time. Only afterwards can you finally settle in and relax in your room. But did you take in all those important details? Hotelier Stefan Welschen, third-generation manager of the Hotel Ambassador in Brig, is familiar with these feelings of uncertainty. “We want our guests to feel at ease in every situation, which is why we strive for quality in everything we do,” he says.
«The TV information channel is a jigsaw piece that fits perfectly with our high service quality.»
In order to feel good, a guest needs to be fed the right amount of the right information at the right time. In blue TV Host – Swisscom’s comprehensive TV and WLAN package for hotels and residential homes – Stefan Welschen has found a stylish solution. As one of the first Swiss hotels to operate its own information channel on its in-room TVs, the Ambassador feels it definitely made the right choice.
Wide awake 24/7: the electronic concierge
A simple press of a button on the in-room TV remote control activates the hotel’s own information channel, carefully designed in the Ambassador’s trademark colours and fonts. Guests can choose the content that interests them, whether it’s today’s menu at the Brasserie Des Cheminots, the events calendar or this month’s culinary specials from the Gault&Millau-rated kitchen. “We can also share excursion ideas, advertise joint promotions with partners, or even sell advertising space to local companies,” explains Stefan Welschen. “But we deliberately try not to put too much information on the channel.” The information channel has been live for two months now. What changes has the manager noticed? “Guests are better informed thanks to the ‘electronic concierge’. Our staff tell us they don’t have to keep repeating the same information again and again, so they now have more time to attend to the guests’ specific concerns. We’re getting a great response to the offers we advertise on the channel: many guests are reserving tables for our gastro specials, for example. Of course, they also enjoy everything else blue TV Host has to offer. With more than 300 channels, they’re bound to find a few in their own language. And with password-protected WiFi, they can surf the web and exchange data securely.”
Fast responses – and printing costs more than halved
Another benefit of the information channel, according to the Brig hotelier, is that it enables him to respond quickly: “We all know that the coronavirus situation has sometimes been rather turbulent. We can use the information channel to inform guests about new rules very quickly and contactlessly. This builds trust.” The blue TV Host information channel is also having a direct impact on the hotel’s outgoings, says a delighted Stefan Welschen: “It means we are printing our flyers, brochures and menus in much smaller quantities. We’ve cut our printing costs by about 75% and saved ourselves the effort of updating paper-based guest documentation.”
Posting new content? No problem!
Stefan Welschen’s wife, Maria Grazia Welschen-Vincenzi, is responsible for uploading the content onto the information channel. Is it a hard job? “Not at all,” she laughs. “After a few initial problems, it’s really easy now. Swisscom’s partner, which looks after the information channel, trained us to use the system efficiently and showed us how to import our data. We designed the image grid ourselves, but the experts did the technical work. The teething troubles arose because the image files we uploaded were too big, but we quickly resolved that problem.” So how is new content actually uploaded onto the channel? “It’s very simple: first, I prepare the files in our design and the right format on my PC. Then I send them to the information channel system via an automatic interface, update the display and the content appears live on the TVs immediately.”
Benefits for the Hotel Ambassador
More time for customer service
The new info channel keeps guests up to date with offers and news. Less work for the reception desk, more time to deal with specific enquiries.
Considerable saving on printing costs
No need to keep updating printed guest information folders. Avoid high printing costs by playing the easily and centrally managed info channel on all TV screens.
Modern image and new revenue opportunities
Adapt the hotel’s own info channel to its specific design and generate welcome additional revenue with visually appealing special offers.