Meliá Hotels International and Oracle have developed a new bracelet, designed to serve guests as a room key and wallet during their stay. The bracelet uses Bluetooth and short-range connection capabilities to allow guests to unlock the door to their room just by placing the bracelet next to the lock, as well as enabling them to pay for hotel services such as meals in the restaurants and treatments in the spa. The bracelet has been designed with resort hotels in mind, utilising the Oracle cloud to facilitate payments across all resort services and featuring a completely waterproof design, allowing guests to leave their wallet in their room. Bracelets are linked to the Meliá App, allowing users to track their spending throughout their stay. Guests are also able to set maximum credit limits, receive receipts or cancel services on the app.
Gabriel Escarrer, Vice President and CEO of Meliá Hotels International said: “At Meliá Hotels International we imagined a new type of vacation in which guests could enjoy all of our hotel services without having to worry about carrying around cash or ID. That is now a reality thanks to this innovative project in partnership with Oracle.”
André P. Gerondeau, Chief Operating Officer of Meliá Hotels International, said: “When we designed the integration of the experience in hotels with different themes, we began to investigate how we could make it easier for guests to move freely around all the services and spaces offered by each property. The answer came from Oracle, who helped us develop the “Meliá bracelet” in record time, meeting all of our needs and expectations.”
The pilot project for the technology is being carried out in two Company hotels located in Magaluf, which over recent years has become a hotspot for new hotel concepts and product repositioning. Four additional hotels in the destination will add the devices in Summer 2019. Guests staying at the Sol Katmandu Park hotel and the newly opened Calviá Beach The Plaza are already receiving bracelets at check-in, allowing them to open the door to their room and pay for all the services in their hotel or in any other Company hotel in Magaluf. Guests in any one of the hotels can use the bracelet to enjoy the restaurants or spas at any of the nine Meliá Hotels International properties in Magaluf: the Sol House Resort (three hotels), Sol Katmandu, Meliá Calviá Beach, ME Mallorca, Sol Barbados, Sol Guadalupe and Sol Beach House Mallorca, and shops at the new Momentum Plaza.
Meliá Hotels International and Oracle developed the tool, the business model and the technology collaboratively. The project managers said of the project: “it is a dream come true in terms of the personalisation of the hotel experience, something that is a major priority for us: a room that opens when approached by guests, a dinner booked online or access to the VIP list for the best beach club all with just a flash of the wrist.”
Neil Sholay, Vice President of Digital, Oracle EMEA, said: “Co-innovation has been key in helping Meliá Hotels International make this concept a reality. Meliá Hotels International started this project with the idea and a passion for improving the customer experience. By combining the Company’s experience in the hotel industry and the innovation and technological strength of Oracle, this project shows that transformative ideas can be made real. In a matter of just a few weeks, we have co-created an experience beyond expectations.”
