Landis Hospitality Group (麗緻餐旅集團) yesterday announced the introduction of iPads at all of its guestrooms in Taipei and Taichung as it seeks to embrace technology without reducing staff.
The upgrade at a total 411 of guestrooms at the Landis Taipei Hotel (台北亞都麗緻飯店) and the Landis Taichung Hotel (台中亞緻飯店) makes them the first to use iPads to enhance lodging convenience and improve environmental friendliness, group managing director Michelle Hsu (徐儷萍) said.
“Technology has allowed the tourism industry to pursue innovation, and the group has moved to seize on the trend,” Hsu told a media briefing.
The group spent one year planning the upgrade that allows guests easy access to useful information once they go through a check-in process, Hsu said.
The iPads would synchronize personal data, such as guests’ name and nationality, and would display content and important international news headlines in the corresponding language, Hsu said.
The iPads also contain maps to popular tourist attractions near the hotels, allowing guests to better organize and enjoy their stay in Taiwan, Hsu said.
The upgrade cost the group NT$15 million (US$514,350) and could save the hotels 35,000 sheets of hotel directories and promotional pamphlets annually, paving the way to paperless operations, she said.
“We aim to be ‘smart’ and environmentally friendly, but will not replace employees with robots or technology devices in the pursuit of business growth,” Hsu said, adding that no group employee lost their job because of the adoption of iPads.
Occupancy rates at Landis Taipei, the group’s flagship property in the city’s Zhongshan District (中山), is expected to rise to 75 percent this year from 67.06 percent last year, as a renovation project is expected to be completed next month, general manager Newman Yen (顏鎮國) said.
The iPads and other facility upgrades might allow the five-star hotel to raise daily room rates by 6 to 10 percent to NT$4,850, Yen said.
The hotel’s Chinese restaurant, Tien Hsiang Lo (天香樓), has been fully booked after winning a one-star recognition from the Michelin Guide for Taipei released on March 14, Yen said.
One star suggests the eatery is outstanding in its own category, according to the guide.
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