LCD-based Hotel Advertising System

Project Background

Convinced that untapped revenue lay behind every luxury hotel’s guest, our client set his mind to unlocking this hidden profit. He believed that targeted information on a hotel’s for-profit services (restaurants, spa, etc.), delivered in a timely manner and personalized to each guest, was the key he sought.

Sibers was tasked with building a solution that permits delivery of personalized advertisements through an LCD display installed in a hotel room. The system would automatically select and schedule promotional messages based on each guest’s behavioral patterns and demographics.

Solution

To increase revenue, luxury hotels offer their guests multiple “non-room” services, i.e. food & beverage, spa packages, and outdoor excursions. However, due to stiff competition from outside providers, tapping this particular revenue stream requires additional marketing efforts. Sibers developed an advanced, personalized marketing application that connects with the hotel’s internal system via API and evaluates every guest’s demographic, along with their in-hotel spending habits.

Using a sophisticated algorithm, the application selects and schedules advertisements by adapting to each guest’s personal data. For instance, if a guest stays with a child, the hotel’s ice cream shop is advertised. If a guest spent more than 15 euro in the hotel bar the night before, a 10% drink discount is offered to him. The application also shows what's popular amongst the hotel’s guests — by demographic, personal characteristics, meal choices, etc.

Additionally, the application gathers statistics with which it can sort guests into groups, i.e. Japanese guests living in rooms with even and uneven numbers, and conduct A/B testing.

In a press release announcing the solution, our client spoke of one particular behavioral pattern discovered by the application. If a hotel spa advertisement is translated into Mandarin, a Chinese couple is more likely to visit it. And if an advertisement promoting a hotel restaurant highlights its Chinese delicacies, the couple is more likely to dine there.

The system can also be used for internal communications. For example, if a guest calls the reception desk and asks for a name, number, or address, the info can be delivered to the room’s LCD display, thus avoiding any potential difficulties due to language barrier.

Tech highlights

• .NET
• .NET Framework
• ASP.NET Web Forms
• MS SQL
• ADO .NET
• .NET GDI+
• ASP.NET Web Services
• WCF
• Windows Services
• Windows Forms
• RSS, XSLT
• Flash
• ActionScript
• Glimpse
• log4net
• ASP.NET AJAX ControlToolkit
• JavaScript, jQuery, jQuery-UI

Results

Originally developed for one particular hotel chain, the system has since greatly expanded its global footprint, and the client now offers the application as an SaaS that’s used by multiple luxury hotel chains worldwide. The proof is in the pudding: statistics show a spending increase of 23% from each guest who receives personalized advertisements through the system.