When hotel owners and managers consider the costs of upgrading their current hotel conference room audio-visual system, they often consider outsourcing these services to a live event production company – one that would bring in portable AV equipment and run it for the events. But more and more hotel managers are learning that offering the audio and video services in-house can be a lucrative cash cow. And they’re finding that the conference room guests prefer a well-designed AVL system as opposed to a portable hodge-podge system. So what is the best way to make upgrades to your hotel conference room audio-video system without losing your shirt in the process?
We routinely sit down with clients who need to make upgrades to their hotel conference room audio-visual system, and in most cases, they have a limited budget, and they need a system that will do a multitude of different things. While it’s only natural to want to try and make your equipment do double duty for as many things as possible, there’s a cost associated with that multi-functionality. That cost comes in different forms. For instance, consider a hotel meeting room or conference center. Most of these facilities have multiple conference rooms that can be separate or combined. Typical rooms need to support a couple of wireless microphones, several wired microphone inputs, computer (both audio and video), CD player, iPod, and so on. Generally, this equipment needs to be available in each room or combined into one big system. Various video sources (DVD, Blu-Ray, VGA, HDMI, etc.) need to be visible on projection screens or displays (sometimes in 1080p), while audio needs reinforcement through a distributed ceiling speaker system for better intelligibility. There might be an occasional band playing in the facility so the system should have the capability to playback some louder music with some additional inputs and power available. Oh and, by the way, we’re on a tight budget!
So what’s the solution? Early on in the process, sit down with an independent AVL consultant and work through the various programming requirements. Document how often different types of equipment are actually needed and which types of events will need them. Compare the purchase price of the equipment with the potential rental cost. Maybe some of the more complex parts of the system can be obtained from a rental house when needed, while still profiting from “normal” events by providing the conference room audio-visual system in house.
Finally, make sure that you have a user interface for the system that is clear and easy to use. Sometimes a great AVL system is ineffective simply because the user interface can’t be understood. The more flexible the system is, the more critical it is to have a great user interface. Acoustics By Design can work with you all along the process, from programming to hotel conference room audio-visual system design, to staff training. We can optimize the system for a fantastic guest experience, and we can make sure you don’t miss out on the profits from this lucrative cash cow!
profitability is a concern with all businesses but it is also about guest satisfaction. As with all “hospitality” industry roles the priority is the guest.
We stock a selection of standard equipment and then have a dedicated company who we use for more technical requests.
nothing can be more inviting in business conference than having a great acoustics.