Welcome to the Hotel Connected: MobileSuites App Designed to Bring Hotels into the Smartphone Age

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Welcome to the Hotel Connected MobileSuites App Designed to Bring Hotels into the Smartphone AgeIt’s coming after that old black desk phone — but the Gideon Bible may still be safe.

MobileSuites, a tech company founded in 2013, wants to bring hotels into the modern era. Goodbye, Hotel Anachronistic. Hello, Hotel Connected (and yes, you can both check out AND leave).

“One of the more old-fashioned aspects of staying in a hotel is having to pull a leather binder out of a drawer and then pick up a 1980s-era phone to order room service, arrange a wake-up call, or set up a spa appointment,” notes Beta Boston. “A Cambridge start-up, MobileSuites, wants to upgrade that part of the guest experience, letting you use your smartphone to explore the amenities and interact with the staff.”

The company ran pilots of the app with three hotels last year. According to MobileSuites, an iPhone app can now be used at about 700 hotels (including Hilton, Westin, and Marriott) in the U.S.

“Guests are interested in mobile, on-demand convenience,” says company CEO Dennis Meng, “but so far travel apps on mobile devices have really been focused on booking rooms and flights.”

Targeting “the same people who hate picking up the phone to make dinner reservations, (using) OpenTable,” the app can do things like reveal room service menus and expedite ordering or to put in a housekeeping request.

Meng is reluctant to spill all the details, but says the app “involves a mix of e-mail and phone calls.” Hotels that sign on with MobileSuites acquire access to a web portal so its staffers “can see and respond to requests coming in from the app.”

While MobileSuites hasn’t inked deals with the very largest hoteliers, company execs say it’s just a matter of time.

“The long-term strategy is still to have relationships with all the major hotel chains,” says Meng.

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