Article

Hospitality digital signage comes to Heathrow T5 Sofitel

Sofitel London Heathrow is using Connectvision digital signage software to integrate with the hotel's events management system and power its screen network.

March 10, 2009

The largest hotel to be built inside the M25 before the 2012 Olympics, the Sofitel London Heathrow offers 605 luxury bedrooms and suites plus an extensive range of meeting rooms, including the Arora Suite which can hold up to 1,700 guests and a 117-tiered seat theater within a dedicated conference centre.

The hotel has installed over 100 LCD screens ranging from small LCDs in the hotel lifts to mid-sized screens outside meeting rooms, and in the gym and toilets. Larger screens feature in the link bridge between Terminal 5 and the hotel conference reception area and meeting rooms.

"We use a mix of static and digital signage which allows us to offer more interactive signage that can be changed in line with hotel and guest requirements. Our selection criteria for the digital signage was that it should be readily integrated with our conference diary system, be easy-to-use and have excellent support — Connectvision delivers all three," said Sunny Roda, IT director, Arora International Hotels Ltd.

Connectvision is centrally managed within the hotel's sales and marketing business. Screen content is zoned and scheduled to create a completely integrated communications environment, covering everything from news media through to event and meeting scheduling and corporate branding as well as wayfinding.

Conference branding made easy

Connectvision is fully integrated within the hotel's Delphi Meetings and Events Management System, enabling Sofitel London Heathrow staff to offer companies the opportunity to use Connectvision's scheduling and zoning features to its full extent. For a large conference where the entire meetings and events center is used, Connectvision can be used to create an ambiance for the conference which would be impossible without the digital signage.

"Our corporate clients have been delighted with the ability to create a complete conference branding environment by using the screens to show either a single message or multiple messages and visual imagery. We offer them the opportunity to include logos, JPEG images, video clips on the large screens and logos on the smaller meeting room screens," said Raj Shah, sales and marketing director, Sofitel London Heathrow.

Wayfinding for conference delegates

As delegates enter the dedicated conference center entrance they can instantly see details of their meeting and events on overhead LCD screens in the reception area. Moving into the conference center they are met by a Connectvision-powered wayfinding screen indicating how they can get to their meeting rooms. Adjacent to the entrance door for each of the 45 meeting rooms is a digital screen giving details of the company, meeting topic and start/end times.

Raj Shah is now exploring opportunities for advertising, particularly on the link bridge concourse screens so as guests leave the hotel they will be able to see advertising for retailers within Terminal 5.