Hilton San Diego Bayfront Launches Guest-Services Portal for the iPhone, iPad and Guest Laptops

Hilton San Diego Bayfront has given its guests the ability to use their own Web-enabled devices to order room service, bottle service, everyday amenities and chat online with staff (even when off property at the nearby San Diego Convention Center, PETCO Park and just about anywhere) through GBCblue's ORION and mobile GOrion guest-service platforms.

Hilton's 30-story, waterfront property stands out in the competitive San Diego hospitality market by "always exuding the casually sophisticated vibe of the city," says Konstantine Drosos, director of finance at Hilton San Diego Bayfront. Drosos says the hotel worked with GBCblue to develop a branded online guest-services portal optimized for guests' Internet-ready devices "to give our guests the stress-free experience they've come to expect from Hilton and a trip to San Diego."

"San Diego has an amazing coastal culture and lifestyle: It's informal yet stylish and relaxed yet innovative," says Drosos. "We try to embody those qualities in everything we do, particularly guest services. Since most of our guests travel with some type of web-enabled device, it seemed natural to enhance their stays by offering our guest services and amenities through them."

The Hilton San Diego Bayfront has simultaneously launched its comprehensive online guest-services portal and its Odysea Lounge iPad app, both based on GBCblue's ORION e-commerce platform. The portal allows guests to use any Web-enabled device to order (or pre-order) room service, request room amenities, address maintenance concerns and request services such as valet and book local tours of the San Diego harbor and Temecula wine country. Guests may use either a table-mounted Odysea iPad or download the Odysea Lounge app from the App Store to order food and drinks or request wait staff right from their tables with their own iPhones/iPads.

Drosos emphasizes the flexibility and wow factor of the ORION system for Hilton San Diego Bayfront: "One of the most exciting things we're doing with GBCblue's service is handing out iPads with the ORION portal in our Odysea Lounge. Guests may view and order from our food menu, see color photos of popular drinks, request wait staff, mix their own drinks and surf the web -- all from their Odysea iPad."

"The portal we developed with GBCblue has helped us deliver relevant, real-time content and services to our guests, regardless of their location," says Drosos. "Using their online management tool, we can easily be proactive and customize the portal for business meetings, showcase daily menu specials and give our guests more freedom to experience the best of our hotel and San Diego."

Drosos adds that guests can now use the portal to review popular regional destinations while strolling the Gaslamp Quarter or request Lincoln Town Car service from the waterfront. The ORION system also solves a sticky PCI compliance issue many hotels have with off-site amenity ordering. Now those not staying at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront can use the new Hilton portal to place food, beverage and amenity orders for guests, including in-room gift and bottle service for VIPs -- all in a web-based format with full PCI Compliant credit card functionality.

To bolster the recent Hilton announcement to make sustainability a brand standard by 2011, the ORION guest-services portal is also fully integrated with the hotel's maintenance management system, SynergyMMS from Systems Associates, Inc., which allows guests to bypass the PBX and report maintenance concerns, request supplies or send a message directly to team members such as valet, as well as manage their stay by choosing green tasks like deferring linen changes. Hilton San Diego Bayfront's portal is hosted off-site at GBCblue's secure Network Operations Center.