HITEC: LodgeNet Showcases Expansion of Envision Apps

LodgeNet Interactive Corporation, a provider of media and connectivity solutions to the hospitality industry, unveiled several new features to its Envision cloud-connected interactive HDTV (iHDTV) solution at this year’s HITEC show, which opened on June 20 at the Austin (TX) Convention Center.

 

The expanded apps, which are part of LodgeNet’s continued enhancement of the Envision platform, include the LodgeNet PowerPortal, which provides new ways for hoteliers to seamlessly communicate with their guests over both the HDTV system and the guest’s mobile devices, and the introduction of Internet streaming apps which allow guests to access Web-based content on the coaxbased HDTV system in their guest room without the expense or complexity of an IPTV system.

 

The LodgeNet PowerPortal is a web-based, rights-managed authoring tool that can support a variety of apps through which a hotel can publish relevant content for delivery through their Envision iHDTV system as well as guests’ mobile devices. Envision apps currently supported by the PowerPortal include Guest Info, In-Room Dining, Guest Requests and Happenings Channels, among others. Because PowerPortal is Web-based, it can be accessed remotely through any computer with a high speed Internet connection. Authorized hotel or brand personnel can add, delete, and update backgrounds, text, images and video-based content in real time.

 

The latest PowerPortal enhancements enable hoteliers to publish their In-Room Dining and Guest Info content to travelers’ mobile devices in addition to displaying the information on the HDTV television in the guest room using LodgeNet’s patent pending mobile app technology. Because content uploaded into the PowerPortal is available for use on multiple platforms, including the TV and mobile devices, hotels can utilize one integrated solution for controlling content distribution to multiple formats.

 

LodgeNet also demonstrated streaming video and audio apps sourced from the Internet but optimized for display on a TV screen with navigation through a remote control.

 

In recent months LodgeNet has installed its Envision platform at a variety of hotels including the Hyatt Regency O’Hare in suburban Chicago, the W San Francisco, the SpringHill Suites by Marriott in Sioux Falls, SD, the Lenox Hotel in Boston, the Four Seasons Hotel Austin (TX), and the Hilton Austin.