PLAY THE
ROLLING THE DICE
TRENDING
PLAY THE
GAME
Hilton ’ s Connected Room heads into deployment this fall . From three brands and about 500 rooms in four hotels around Memphis , Tennessee , it will grow to several thousand rooms and 12 to 15 hotels in new U . S . markets , says Josh Weiss , vice president of brand and guest technology . Weiss talks about the technology ’ s potential :
H : How could Connected Room raise guest awareness of energy usage ? JW : It creates whole new ways of doing that . We find out that many of our guests , an increasing number really , like to feel engaged and in charge of helping out and making sustainable decisions , and not being wasteful . We want to create not only new ways of enabling them to do that , of helping save and of helping be efficient , but maybe we ' ll even find ways to gamify it , to create fun challenges where “ I ’ m the super saver ,” or something like that .
H : What would gamification look like ? JW : The great thing is we ' ve got a platform . We ' ve got connected TVs where we can inform guests of certain things . When you have the TV as part of the ecosystem , the ability to use it as a platform to say … “ Check out our new sustainability game ,” or whatever type of awareness thing , we can now drive that through the TV as a part of the platform . Same with the mobile app … If I ' m setting something in the app , I ' m actively controlling it .
H : What about specific incentives ? JW : I think that could be a definite part of it . We all know , with gamification in our broader lives , that we like to have rewards . That ' s just human nature … Sometimes even a really , really small reward or just the satisfaction of know that you did the right thing , because we ' re surfacing information to them , is a huge part of it .
ROLLING THE DICE
MGM Resorts ’ legal maneuver against lawsuits stemming from the mass shooting last October at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas prompted a # BoycottMGM backlash . Will the move pay off ?
In July , the company filed lawsuits naming more than 1,000 victims — individuals who have either sued or threatened to sue the company — as defendants . The suits request a change from state to federal court and protection from legal actions by the victims under the U . S . SAFETY ( Support Antiterrorism by Fostering Effective Technologies ) Act .
“ From the day of this tragedy , we have focused on the recovery of those impacted by the despicable act of one evil individual ,” it said in a statement , adding that federal court was appropriate for litigation “ relating to incidents of mass violence like this one where security services approved by the Department of Homeland Security were provided .”
“ MGM chose a legal strategy that may be valid but is perceived as beyond insensitive ,” observes Raya Casas , who advises on crisis management as president of Wragg & Casas in Miami . “ MGM compounded the damage with its media statement that the lawsuit provides an avenue for a timely resolution ‘ in the best interest of the victims .’ Protect the company ? Yes . Pretend it helps the victims ? Absolutely no .” Casas says the legal strategy should have explained the obligation to protect the company .
“ The company is doing what it has to do to defend itself and protect its investments and employees ,” says Eric Kalis , account director at BoardroomPR in Fort Lauderdale , Florida . “ Right now they see that as the big-picture priority as a tradeoff for any short-term hit to their reputation .” — Megan Rowe
16 hotelsmag . com October 2018