In our IT Issue’s Back of the Haus, we take a look at a solution provided by Maldives-based tech-firm Keiretsu Pvt Ltd to a prestigious and cutting-edge resort in the country. Keiretsu’s guest room management platform and enterprise control and management system let guests take control of their rooms in a radical way. They can control room temperature, lighting, drapes and audio-visual devices using intuitive apps, customised switches or any personal device. The combination of these comprehensive systems also enables central management of guest services and building systems while opening up new channels for revenue and streamlining operations.
We’ve come so far from when things like turning on the TV and AC required multiple remotes and drawing the blinds meant some manual labour. Today, the guest room ‘knows’ whether it’s occupied by a guest or a staff and adjust lighting, power, shading and other aspects as needed. Also, room management at the back of the house is made so much simpler. If something’s amiss, or about to be, the system will let you know. As our cover feature says, the future is here.
1: AC Control This image shows the user controlling the AC in a room. It shows that the current set temperature is now 23 degrees Celsius. The AC is kept at low mode. The room humidity is at 75% and the room ambient temperature is 22 degrees. This means the room’s AC is working well, as it is able to achieve the set temperature.
2: Privacy Here’s the privacy page. It shows whether the room is occupied or not (the green button activates when occupied). We’d even know if the guest enables DND (Do not disturb) or MUR (Make up room) mode. The same feedback would also be sent to the front office, allowing speedy service. Also, engineering can check the status of the room before going in for a routine maintenance check.
3: Lighting Controls Here you can see the lighting control page. There are certain light-scenes set for each time of the day. The engineering department can use this to check whether the lights are on at the right time. Or simply, if there is a fault, they can use this page to control and test the lights. This image shows a user controlling/viewing the lights in the Garden Villa #101.
4: Door Status This page shows the door states. When the doors are open, the ACs will switch to either ‘fan mode’ or increase temperature to 27 degrees (whichever is most energy efficient). If, in the rare event, a door contact (something that lets you know if the door is open or not) goes faulty, the engineering department can simply disable the door contacts thereby allowing to bypass the AC cutoff until the broken door contact is fixed.
5: Room View This image shows all the above information in a table format. This view gives the engineering department an overall understanding of the property. This is the quickest way to find faults.
6: Guest User Interface At the fore-front of the system is a customised user-interface designed to match the operators’ branding. This App would be the guest’s butler.