As hotels, restaurants, bars, spas, and event spaces work to deliver premium experiences with leaner teams, AV, control, and automation technologies are becoming essential operational tools. Anna Mitchell reports.
Hospitality technology is often discussed in terms of guest experience, but behind the guest-facing layer is another story. Hotels, restaurants, bars, resorts, and mixed-use hospitality venues are under pressure to do more with less.
The best hospitality systems are not only designed to impress guests, but also to make venues easier to run, which is why AV, control, and automation technologies have a large role to play.
Michelle Guss, VP of hospitality at Crestron, says operator expectations are still strongly shaped by guests. “The modern guest expects to have technology that’s readily accessible with interfaces that are completely intuitive and easy to use,” she says. “When a guest enters a room and they have difficulty turning on lights, figuring out the TV remote, or connecting their devices to the hotel Wi-Fi, those are now big issues.”
But Guss adds that staff are looking for the same simplicity. “If your restaurant manager can ready music, lighting, and even video with a single touch to set up for the evening dinner rush, that’s a huge benefit. You want your staff focused on service, not troubleshooting tech. This also helps with efficiency and the staff shortages that many hotels experience.”
Hospitality operators need systems that reduce friction for staff, protect the brand experience, and continue to deliver value after handover.
Hans Vereecken, vice president of international sales at Bose Professional, sees this clearly in audio. Guests now expect the same premium AV standards in hotels and resorts that they experience elsewhere in life, including at home, but operators must deliver that quality within a practical operating environment. “For hotel operators, meeting these elevated demands comes down to balancing memorable guest experiences with day-to-day operational efficiency,” he says. “There is a rapidly growing expectation for networked audio architectures where complex systems work together seamlessly behind the scenes to deliver flawless sound performance.”
Simple control, complex systems
The hospitality environment is especially challenging because the same space may change identity several times in a day. The operational value of technology lies in making these changes repeatable and simple. Guss points to building-wide scheduling of lighting, shading, AV, and HVAC depending on the time of day or season, as well as presets for spas and pool areas. “The ability for a staff masseuse to call up the perfect music, lighting, and aromatherapy for a guest with a single touch can be a terrific help,” she says.
In audio, Vereecken says automated room-combining control can use magnetic sensors in partition walls to reconfigure audio zones when spaces are split or joined. Time-scheduling can also be used to pre-programme transitions throughout the day, changing music genres or levels to suit different clienteles. “These smart presets remove operational complexity, allowing the hospitality team to focus entirely on their guests rather than the technology,” he says.
Bose Professional systems help hospitality venues create consistent ambience across restaurants, lounges, spas, and event spaces
The same logic applies to background music and ambience. “A venue's sonic environment directly reflects its brand energy and leaving a space completely silent risks making it feel dull and lifeless,” says Vereecken. He points to ambient noise sensing and auto-compensation as tools that can monitor background noise and adjust volume automatically as foot traffic changes.
“Simple control is absolutely vital because it directly impacts a venue's operational efficiency,” he continues. “By utilising self-optimising systems and intelligent automation, we can minimise the need for non-technical staff to manually tweak hardware settings throughout their shifts. The ultimate goal of modern AV development is to ensure that as system capabilities expand, the user interface remains simple and entirely friction-free for the team on the floor.”
Beyond the guest room
When it comes to digital signage and IPTV, Nigel Bateson, head of reseller/hospitality Europe at Uniguest, says the hospitality sector has made a big shift away from isolated on-premise systems and toward cloud-based, centrally managed platforms.
“When I started in this business, we were shipping a full 19-in rack of equipment, if not many 19-in racks to the property,” he says. “And now that’s all gone.”
Uniguest’s hospitality platform brings in-room entertainment, information, casting, and guest services into a centrally managed TV interface
For Bateson, the “cloud first” shift reflects the reality of hospitality operations. Many hotels are thinly staffed, and most do not have technical teams available to manage local equipment. Moving TV, signage, casting, and management platforms above property removes complexity from the comms room and gives hotel groups more centralised control.
Bateson says that, for hospitality integrators, one of the advantages of working with an Uniguest is that much of the brand compliance work has already been done. Hotel technology does not exist in isolation: it has to satisfy the brand setting the standards, the owner or operator funding the project, and the local teams who will live with the system day to day.
That can make the buying process complex, but Bateson says Uniguest’s existing brand endorsements and mandates can help partners move through it. “We know if any of our partners go into a Hyatt or a Mandarin Oriental or an IHG, they can say, ‘we’re selling the Uniguest system and that’s approved’,” he says.
The benefit is not only commercial. When a guest stays with a major hotel brand, the technology should reflect the same standards as the room design, linen, bathroom, or service. Centrally managed platforms allow content, user interfaces, brand films, signage templates, and guest-facing experiences to be deployed consistently across a group, region, or estate.
“If we get an order for, let’s say, a new Mandarin Oriental, as soon as we provision the site, it has the correct Mandarin Oriental look and feel,” says Bateson. “So it means that the operators get this automated brand compliance, so they don’t have to think about it.”
This is where integrators can move beyond installation. In EMEA and APAC, Uniguest sells through partners, and Bateson says software-as-a-service models have helped some partners move from transactional product sales towards recurring revenue. There are also opportunities around professional services, content updates, design-as-a-service, lifecycle management, and consulting on ageing display estates.
That consultative role helps hospitality operators who may not recognise when technology is no longer fit for purpose. Bateson says hotels often want to keep old displays because they still switch on and physically look acceptable. But those screens may be out of support, unable to run current services, or incapable of meeting guest expectations around casting and streaming.
Remote visibility means integrators can see the status, software version, model number, and age of displays, helping operators plan refresh cycles rather than respond to complaints.
“The hotel or the integrator can see in the morning if any rooms are offline,” says Bateson. “They can make a proactive ticket to go and find out why those rooms are offline rather than waiting for a guest to come in the room and then complain that the TV is black.”
Interoperability and the building layer
Casto Cañavate, marketing manager at KNX Association, says the hospitality opportunity sits within a wider smart building conversation. KNX can provide the building automation layer that allows lighting, HVAC, shading, access control, sensors, and other applications to work together.
In hotels, he says, each room typically needs to operate independently, with secure and reliable control of core functions such as lighting, ventilation, air conditioning, heating, and shading. Depending on the budget and the integrator, this may extend to access control, movement sensors, and other room functions.
InterContinental Hotel Auckland uses KNX room automation to integrate lighting, blinds, HVAC, occupancy sensing, access control, booking, and housekeeping systems
Cañavate describes two common approaches: room controller units that combine many functions into a single component or sets of individual KNX-certified components that control different applications. Both can be valid, but the key is scalability and maintainability. In a hotel, a room may become part of a suite, rooms may be reconfigured, buildings may expand, and operators may later want to add energy management or other applications.
“With scalability being in the core of our technology, it’s easy for you to say, today I have this configuration of rooms, and tomorrow I will convert these two or three individual rooms into a big suite,” he explains.
AV integrators don’t have to become building automation specialists overnight, but AV increasingly has to coexist with building systems. Cañavate says AV should be seen as one application within a smart building environment: complex and particular, but still part of a wider ecosystem.
He argues that AV professionals and building automation specialists should be talking at the start of a project, not once the building systems have already been designed. Early cooperation reduces cost, prevents conflict, and protects the end customer.
Technology silos create operational problems. Separate systems can mean duplicated cabling, multiple contractors, separate maintenance agreements, and a building operator who has to understand several platforms. In the worst cases, Cañavate says, isolated technologies become obsolete because operators cannot manage them effectively.
“Interoperability plays a key part in this type of project,” he says. “One company can offer the service of maintenance to you. You avoid redundancy of cabling, and you have one person that you trust.”
A system that can be expanded, maintained, and reconfigured gives AV integrators a reason to stay close to the client. As operators ask for energy optimisation, new applications, additional rooms, or changed room layouts, the integrator can return to extend the system rather than replace it.
Uptime as guest experience
Reliability has always mattered in hospitality, but as technology becomes more integrated into operations, downtime becomes a service issue. A failed display in a guest room, a dead audio zone in an event space, or a meeting room that cannot support remote participants can all damage the experience quickly.
Guss says remote monitoring, diagnostics, and support can be “incredibly important” because troubleshooting technology at the expense of five-star service is a losing proposition. Crestron’s XiO Cloud platform, she says, allows operators to deploy, monitor, and manage supported devices from one dashboard, with visibility across lobbies, lounges, and other spaces.
Vereecken makes a similar point for audio. “Reliability is absolutely mission-critical, particularly in high-traffic entertainment and premium event areas where clients are paying a premium to use the venue,” he says. “When technical hitches occur, operators cannot afford lengthy downtime, making robust remote support infrastructure essential.”
For Bose Professional, cloud-based monitoring allows integrators to access, diagnose, and troubleshoot anomalies remotely. Vereecken says this helps integrators provide long-term service and maintenance agreements, creating recurring revenue while giving operators confidence in system uptime.
Instead of installing, handing over, and returning only when something fails, the integrator can become a managed service partner.
Flexible spaces and changing revenue models
Hospitality venues want to maximise the value of every square metre and Guss notes that hotels catering to both business and leisure travellers are placing renewed emphasis on modern meeting spaces. Larger hotel rooms may host conferences, banquets, or weddings, while smaller meeting rooms might support a business meeting in the morning and a yoga class in the afternoon. “There’s always a desire to maximise the potential of every square foot in a hotel, as unused rooms don’t add anything to the bottom line,” she says.
That creates demand for intuitive control, content sharing, AV-over-IP, intelligent video, lighting scenes, audio presets, and systems that can be reconfigured without technical support. Guss points to hotel meeting spaces that must now support remote participants, where intelligent video can track speakers and preserve conversational flow.
Bateson sees flexibility through signage and event management integration. If a ballroom is split into rooms A, B, and C, signage can update automatically. If the space is later recombined, the content changes again. The same applies to in-room experiences for conference groups, where guest room TVs can display a company logo, event agenda, or tailored menu for delegates, before being wiped clean and returned to the default experience at checkout.
This kind of automation reduces staff workload but also creates sellable services for the venue.
The integrator’s challenge
Hospitality is not an easy market. Bateson says the buying process can be complex because hotel brands, owners, operators, procurement teams, IT departments, and local staff may all have a role. A building may carry a global brand name, but the brand may not own the property or employ the staff. Integrators must understand that ecosystem.
Project delivery is equally demanding. Guest room refits depend on access, room occupancy, and careful coordination. New builds can be delayed by other trades. Even logistics can be underestimated: where to store hundreds of TVs, who removes packaging, and what happens to the displays being replaced.
Bateson says successful hospitality integrators are often those with a well-tuned machine and enough project volume to manage procurement, installation, logistics, recycling, and support efficiently.
Guss highlights another challenge: refresh cycles. Operators need future-ready systems that can adapt to building upgrades without requiring disruptive rip-and-replace projects. Networked solutions are attractive because they support scalability, centralisation, and future adaptation.
For Cañavate, the challenge is mindset. AV is highly visible and often more immediately exciting than building automation. But there is an opening for integrators to understand how their systems connect with wider building infrastructure. He says the AV professional does not lose business by cooperating with building automation specialists; rather, there is potential to widen the portfolio and become more valuable to the project.
Technology that disappears
For all the complexity behind the scenes, the goal in hospitality is often invisibility. Technology should support the brand, the staff, and the guest without drawing attention to itself.
Guss puts it simply: “No matter what the tech is doing, whether that’s saving resources or delivering a one-touch concierge service, it should always be next to invisible. When tech fades into the background, that’s when it’s working perfectly.”
That may be the clearest expression of where hospitality technology is heading. The most effective systems are those that help staff set the room, recover from issues, welcome guests, protect brand standards, reduce energy waste, and adapt spaces quickly.
Hospitality clients need partners that understand operations, service, brand consistency, uptime, and the lifecycle of technology across active venues. The integrator that can deliver those outcomes is no longer simply installing AV. It is helping the venue run better.
Top image credit: Shine Nucha/Shutterstock.com