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Innovations from iPads to QR codes enhance your hotel

Putting First Class Back in Business Travel

Innovations from iPads to QR codes enhance your hotel experience.

Next time you’re staying at a hotel and thinking of ordering a Cobb salad or extreme fajita shooters from room service, there’s a good chance you won’t have to go fumbling about in the desk for the “in-room dining” menu. Instead, you might just pick up the suite’s dedicated iPad, which you’ll also use to check your bill, call down to the front desk (via video, if you’d like), book a table for dinner at the restaurant or even change the channels on the TV.

Spurred by mobile products like tablet computers, technology is making a great migration into the upscale hotels of today. And while just about everyone is doing it in a slightly different way, one thing is certain: The era of being even partially disconnected while you’re holed up in a hotel is coming to an end.

iPad as the tool of choiceNew York’s iconic Plaza is leading the charge: As of January it outfitted all of its rooms and suites with iPads loaded to the gills with apps designed for the well-heeled traveler. Everything you’d normally have to seek out via an icon on the telephone is represented here—and more: room service, reservations, concierge access, wake-up calls, maps of Manhattan and even airline schedules and boarding pass printouts. Naturally guests can also use the iPads for web browsing, email and just about anything else the iPad can do, and if the iPad happens to end up in your suitcase, well, The Plaza is happy to bill you for the tablet at cost.

Plaza general manager Shane Krige says so far the program has been a hit. “The personal touch and ability to communicate visually is truly fantastic,” says Krige. “For us the iPad is not about reducing the personal guest interactions you would expect in a five-star hotel but about improving our guest experience and service by providing more options. The iPads have been a huge success with our guests in all aspects.”

Innovations from iPads to QR codes enhance your hotel experience

GroundFlights Gets Top Honor 2011 Award for Ultimate Customer Experience

GroundFlights has taken home the top prize - the "Judges' Choice Award" - for its award winning video and business model, which focuses on The Ultimate Customer Experience.

"The impact of The B.I.G.* Award is measured not only by the recognition provided to the Winner, but also by the benefits that will come from the $35,000 prize package that includes training, consultation and regional exposure associated with complimentary advertising and membership in key entrepreneurial associations and programs," says Leslie Hielema, President of Orlando, Inc. "Our 2010 Judges' Choice Winner grew his business by 1,000 percent in

Putting First Class Back in Business Travel GroundFlights Presents...

The MobileOffice!

As GroundFlights prepares to release their new fleet of Mercedes Benz Sprinters, business travels most luxurious and capable mobile venue, they are the first class back in business travel.

When executives used to squeeze in as much work as possible on the plane ride and sit uneasily during their trips from the airport to their accommodations, anxious to get to their rooms and set up office again, now it’s business all trip long!

Sitting in true luxury with all the capabilities of an everyday office, GroundFlights new MobileOffice takes a back seat to nobody!

Get ready workaholics! Too many drinks on the flight expecting time in between landing and hotel arrival to sober up, won’t cut the bill any longer!

Ethan Curtis, COO Creative Director & New Media StrategistBusiness Storytelling, New Media Planning & Strategy, Project Development

Cell: 302-745-1773Email: ethan@launchmobmedia.com

Ken DeGilio, Founder & CEOChief Brand StorytellerSocial PR Writer, Brand Developer & Strategic Partnerships

Cell: 407.952.4769Email: ken@launchmobmedia.com Twitter: OrlandoKen