Zippy Check-Ins At FairmontZippy Check-Ins At Fairmont

The travel and hospitality industry's love affair with kiosks continues to grow. Fairmont Hotels & Resorts last week joined the ranks of major hoteliers that are rolling out the self-service devices.

The Fairmont is launching its effort with a 10-week trial at its Fairmont Royal York property in Toronto, VP of technology Vineet Gupta says. "First we want to concentrate on where the business traveler goes, because we think that's where the pickup will be fastest," Gupta says. "Business travelers are always in a hurry." About two-thirds of the 45 Fairmont properties are urban business hotels.

In addition to providing simple check-in functions, Fairmont will offer map-based room selection similar to the seat-selection function on airline check-in kiosks. The hotel chain also is planning to integrate an Air Canada application that will let users check in for the carrier's flights, starting later this year.

Fairmont also is in the midst of a chainwide effort to standardize on a common property-management system, and Gupta says the kiosks will only be rolled out to hotels once they're running the new platform. "This makes sure that, from a technical perspective, it's clean and works well," he says. The company hasn't established a firm time line for rolling out the kiosks, and Gupta is negotiating the specifics with IBM, which is building the kiosks.