As part of its commitment to innovation — made public last year when it debuted a new strategic objective to "revolutionize the customer experience" — Accor Hotels has unveiled a new, futuristic room offering for its Novotel brand, it announced last week.
The room, known as Room 3120, was designed with the help of Microsoft and features redefined spaces as well as cutting-edge technologies and amenities, such as Microsoft's Xbox 360 console and its revolutionary Kinect sensor, which uses body gesture and voice recognition to control games and entertainment; a special "Sensorit" mirror, also based on Kinect technology, which displays information tags and includes a fitness interface; and a "Surface" multimedia table, which resembles a giant iPad.
"We wanted to reinvent the hotel room experience by harmoniously melding design and new digital technologies," said Global Chief Marketing Officer Grégoire Champetier. "It's crucial to take our customers' changing habits and expectations into account. In particular, this means re-thinking our rooms in digital terms."
Added Eric Boustouller, CEO of Microsoft France, "In the era of technological convergence, Microsoft is as always front and center. In our partnership with Novotel, we are taking this innovative room concept to a higher level with our best technologies. This new-generation room is an invitation to discover the latest advances in consumer technologies in a creative universe with a unique design."
Accor describes Room 3120 as a "decompression chamber between the outside world and a spacious sensorial environment filled with ingenious practical features and interactive technology."
"We wanted to do something fresh, surprising and imaginative that would unleash people's energy," said Marcelo Joulia, head of Naço, the architecture firm chosen by Novotel to design Room 3120. "We started by re-thinking the basic space, which meant leaving the stuffy old cube behind. We also worked with light and found ways to keep the furniture from being in the way. Multifunctional, flexible and unhindered, Room 3120 adapts to the guest's desires, not vice-versa."
Presently, Room 3120 is only in prototype form, although all of its equipment is fully functional and could be deployed throughout the Novotel network "in the near future," according to Accor. The pilot room is available for guests to reserve through Feb. 14, 2012, at the Novotel Vaugirard Montparnasse in Paris, France.