This High-Tech Hotel Room Will Blow Your Mind
You read about it all the time: Hotels are revamping their rooms to feature game-changing tech features. But wall touch screens and iPad room service is so five years ago. Many hotels may boast a cool, tech-advanced feature or two, but NH Collection Madrid Eurobuilding blew our minds with its tech rooms (starting at $275 a night), recently unveiled after the hotel’s major, multi-million renovation. Tech geeks will appreciate the innovation, and the rooms will serve as a prototype for other hotels to soon follow suit. Here are the 10 ways the hotel impresses with progressive thinking and tech features that will roll out in all rooms throughout the year.
1. Inductive charging
The inductive charging in the NH Collection tech room. (Video: Jimmy Im)
Cords and wires are a mess, and phone chargers are one of the most left-behind items for hotel guests. But the tech rooms here have stylish Krion furniture — from desks to bedside tables — that have built-in chargers. Place your Smartphone on top and it charges automatically — no wires required. NH Collection is also looking into inductive charging for laptops (for now, the only available inductive charging takes eons to charge a laptop battery).
2. Projector TV in the bathrooms
Spacious bathrooms have a projector built into the ceiling, so guests can watch TV while taking a shower! Due to the layout of the bathroom, you can also watch the screen at the vanity (reflected in the mirror). This innovative feature also allows guests to hook up their Bluetooth: play photos and videos from your Smartphone, and even sync your Spotify playlist (separate loud speakers are also built into the bathroom).
3. Bluetooth furniture
Each tech room features outdoor terraces. One terrace is equipped with Krion furniture with built-in Bluetooth, so you can have great sound system on your patio without having to blast it from the inside of your room or bring a portable speaker.
4. 4K TV screens
Each room has a 48-inch, 4K TV screen. 4K is one of the most advanced resolutions, trumping high def (4K is the highest resolution for video recording). The TVs are linked up to high-speed internet so you can browse Facebook and watch Youtube videos in a crisp quality you’ve never seen before. It’s easy to navigate from the remote control and there’s also an external keypad. Bonus: the TV is equipped with Kinect by Xbox, not to play games but to monitor your sleeping patterns conducted by body heat. This will debut soon, and curious sleepers will be able to see just how they sleep, when they dream and more, reported right on the TV screen.
5. Floor sensor lights
Besides the under-bed sensor lights. (Photo: NH Collection)
While we’ve seen sensor lights in closets, NH hotel has taken them to the next level. There’s a main switch by the bed that turns off all the lights in the room, so if you get up in the middle of the night, sensors detect your motion and automatically turns on dimmed lights under the bed and on the bathroom floor. That way, you don’t have to readjust your night vision — or disturb your sleeping partner.
6. Visual concierge
While many hotels like to flaunt an in-room tablet or iPad to order room service or connect with concierge, NH Hotels Collection Eurobuilding’s tech rooms feature tablets that visually connect you with a live, human receptionist. You can see her (she cannot see you) while you order room service or call for valet, ensuring no snags involved.
7. Chrome bathroom wall
The magic bathroom wall. (Video: Jimmy Im)
Most rooms in the hotel feature bathrooms with clear glass divider separating it from the bedroom. While guests can flick on the blinds for privacy, several tech rooms feature chrome glass walls that go fully matted at the touch of a button. This means you can’t see through the wall from either side.
8. Million-LED lit lobby
(Video: Jimmy Im)
The lobby features 2.5 million LED lamps that project movies and visuals on their ceiling in the most dazzling way. It’s the biggest vault LED screen in Europe, and the second biggest in the world (Las Vegas, naturally, has the largest at 12.5 million on Fremont Street).
9. Hologram presentations
Hologram on the left at the Madrid hotel. (Photo: NH Collection)
Thanks to cutting edge, 3-D holographic projection technology, NH is the first hotel in the world to offer future-forward hologram presentations in its meetings. What exactly does this mean? A group can have a meeting at NH Collection Eurobuilding with a keynote speaker on stage — who’s actually in another country. The image is transmitted as if the person is there in real life. It’s like Princess Leia in Star Wars — only these holograms are life-sized. Hugh Jackman recently hologrammed from Berlin into an NH meeting room in Madrid to promote his movie Chappie.
10. Bluetooth room key
No card key needed. (Video: Jimmy Im)
This may be the most basic feature, but handy nonetheless. Via Bluetooth, your Smartphone serves as the key to open your door, so no card key necessary. Some hotel chains, like Starwood, are also rolling out cardless room keys in many of their properties.
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