Communication leads to efficiency

The key to a more efficient minibar system is communication. A system of interconnected minibars throughout the hotel that "talk" with the back of the house provides tremendous savings.

Automated minibars offer a number of advantages: They post charges to a guests' folio in real time, saving the cost of sending another bill after the guest has left; they provide reports to food-and-beverage department leaders, improving inventory tracking; and they reduce the number of employees needed to check for empty minibars, saving labor.

"Basically, the moment you are online, you improve the efficiency," said Marc Cohen, EVP of sales for Bartech Systems. "One day we'll have only automatic minibars."

The technologies to allow this process of communication differ. First, the minibars are rigged to sense when the door has been opened, and then when a product has been removed. Minibar vendors differ on which system is best.

tech TALK

Minibar Systems uses infrared technologies that trigger when an item is moved. "All of our products sit on infrared sensors that are smart enough to know if an item is taken off quickly," said Walt Strasser, SVP of sales and marketing for Minibar Systems. "Mechanical things tend to break."

Peter Kuzyk, national sales manager for Dometic Corp., said Dometic uses a weight-sensitive system called e-field that senses when an item has been removed.

"We used to have infrared, but it meant the interior of the bar had to be black," Kuzyk said. "That's fine, but sometimes you can't tell when cleaning has to be done."

Different minibar systems also use different techniques to network and ultimately communicate data to the back of the house. The most popular communication tools are Ethernet and coaxial cable, Strasser said, because wireless networks are simply not reliable enough.

"Ethernet is the best," Cohen said. "A lot of rooms already have this installed, and with more hotels switching to voice-over-Internet protocol phones, the Internet is definitely the best option."

New technology for transmitting data

(MINIBAR SYSTEMS)

Already having infiltrated other hospitality sectors such as electronic locks, lighting, room temperature and audio/video, a new standard in wireless communication is making its way to minibars.

Both Bartech Systems and Dometic Corp. have introduced models that communicate via ZigBee, a wireless technology that creates its own network by passing data from one access point to another and eventually to a main server in the back of the house. Transmitters are placed on each minibar, and data is passed on down the line to a hub on a main server. The main server collects the data, organizes it and passes it on to the property-management system for billing.

"The challenge that hotels have is a lack of bandwidth, especially with the increasing popularity of streaming video," said Peter Kuzyk, national sales manager for Dometic. Dometic's newest model, HiPromatic, uses ZigBee to operate on an independent network separate from the hotel's WiFi system, Kuzyk said.

Bartech will introduce one of the largest ZigBee-run operations when it outfits a majority of the guestrooms in MGM Mirage's CityCenter project in Las Vegas, including all of the rooms in the first tower to open, Aria.

Walt Strasser, SVP of sales and marketing for Minibar Systems, isn't sold yet. "There's going to be some growing pains for ZigBee," he said. "We'll let ZigBee hash this out first."