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Would You Prefer To Order Room Service Without Talking To Anyone?

June 30, 2010 at 12:01 PM | by | Comments (4)

The world's gone iPad mad, kids can't stop sexting, and no one answers their phone anymore. Welcome to the geeked-out world of 2010. Of course, we love our hotels to be just as techy as the rest of our lives, and lots of them now offer iPads and other Web-enabled devices to play with—or even use to order hotel services.

You can use the iPads at the Hilton San Diego Bayfront to order room service, for example, and we know that New York's Eventi Hotel is working on an iPhone App that will let friends send you hotel services to your room as gifts. When the GM of the InterContinental Times Square was showing us his hotel's new in-room PCs last week, he mentioned that we'll be able to use them to order room service without having to talk to anyone and we both laughed. And then we thought, actually, we'd kind of like that.

We hate to sound anti-social but often we're ordering room service late at night, or when we've arrived in our room tired and cranky after a day traveling. How easy would it be to simply log onto a screen or our own iPhone and order up a burger and fries?

HotelChatter editor Juliana has even asked room service to leave her tray in the valet closet outside her door when staying at the Mandarin Oriental—something we're going to try next time we simply can't face the thought of another perfectly polite but decidedly awkward room service delivery encounter.

What do you think? Do you bumble your way through room service delivery, too? Or do you welcome the full service, complete with tray-lid removal flourish?

Would you like to see the room service exchange automated or would you miss the human interaction? Share your service preferences with us in the comments below.

(Don't worry, we'll have a robot read them to make this exercise as clinical as possible!)

Hotels mentioned in this story

Comments (4)

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yeah right

Like my friends will send me gifts at a hotel via an iPhone app. In reality, I'M more likely to be the person to do that...for them. I like this idea a lot and yes, I want to be able to order my room service as quickly and techy as possible. I only wish my friends would pay for it. :)
JetSetCD on June 30, 2010 at 1:20 PM #Permalink

Try room service for five months...

As a hotel manager I used to live in a hotel, and it was odd to have employees enter my private "home." The fact that, due to hotel policy, I could tip only 10% made it doubly awkward.

For some insider tips on making the most of room service, check out my article:
http://www.blog.danieledwardcraig.com/2009/02/dont-eat-in-bed-tips-for-making-most-of.html#more

DanielEdwardCraig on June 30, 2010 at 2:03 PM #Permalink

Loved it at the SLS in Beverly Hills

I just stayed at the SLS in Beverly Hills and they have a service like this. It was hassle-free and convenient given my busy schedule while I was there. I was incredibly impressed with it and found it be an amazing feature for guests.
brtpack28 on June 30, 2010 at 6:44 PM #Permalink

eh, depends...

Some of us like techy gadgets, so this seems sexy.  But in practical reality, when I'm staying at a hotel I'm not eager to learn some new technology with every hotel I visit.  I'm typically tired from travel and a long day of work (or sometimes play).  I am relatively tech savvy, but I still have a hard time figuring out some of the features on my own TiVo (and other tech stuff I have at home).  The last thing I want is to have to spend time figuring out some new technology every time I go to a new hotel.  Make my life easy.  Give me a nice full-color menu and a single button on the telephone to order. No wizzy new tech to figure out first.  When I want to order room service, I just want it quickly with no hassles.  ...now, on the other hand, a new iPad in my room (latest model always, of course) just for fun could be a different story!
fromage on July 7, 2010 at 10:38 AM #Permalink

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