Best Western® Hotels & Resorts selected Ping HD partner Apex Procurement LLC to provide EngagePHD™ powered LG webOS digital signage displays within the lobby of every Best Western hotel property in North America.
The Challenge
In many hotels, communicating efficiently can be a challenge. The total number of guests can often outnumber available staff. Many large hotels have solved this challenge by offering guests full-time concierge services in the main lobby, but with 2,100 smaller hotels, Best Western needed a more efficient, flexible, and scalable solution that would help improve communication.
“This new digital reader board rollout enables Best Western and our hotel owners to more effectively communicate with guests.”
– Dorothy Dowling, Chief Marketing Officer, Best Western
The Solution
The solution is built around 43, 49, and 55-inch LG displays featuring LG’s flexible “webOS for Signage” platform and powered by Ping HD’s EngagePHD™ software. This is a solution that eliminates the need for any external media player hardware, “working natively at the SoC level puts you right at the last point of failure, which minimizes capital investment by eliminating the purchase of unnecessary hardware and the labor costs associated with the installation of that unnecessary hardware.
Some properties are also equipped with a touch screen overlay to allow guests to interact with the screen, helping them gather more information about nearby tourist hotspots, recommended restaurants, and, for those properties close to airports, live flight departure information. Ping HD is able to offer live flight data to over 10,000 commercial airports worldwide. The use of QR codes embedded in the content allows the hotel guests to take any of the content with them on their mobile devices.
Finally, some properties also feature displays in the restaurant and bar areas to show live TV with an L-Bar wrap.
The Results
Operating expenses have been lowered by reducing content management and design effort, support hours, and maintenance. Some properties have these screens fitted with a touchscreen overlay that has helped elevate the overall customer experience from passive to interactive.