While pre-stay marketing and post-stay marketing have been revolutionized in the last 20 years, for some reason many hotel rooms are still cluttered with outdated pamphlets and unappealing brochures. SuitePad thinks it has found the solution.

Co-founder of the in-room tablet ordering system, Moritz von Petersdorff-Campen told audiences at the ITB convention in Berlin that it is time for a change.

“The last big invention in the hotel room was the TV or maybe the telephone,” von Petersdorff-Campen said. “We take all the clutter and unify it on a single device that welcomes guests into the hotel room.”

And people seem to be interested.

According to SutiePad’s data, 80 percent of guests pick up their tablets and the average time they spend with the device is between five and 15 minutes.

“This doesn’t happen with the guest directory,” von Petersdorff-Campen added.

It does not happen with hotel apps either. Only around five percent of guests end up downloading a branded hotel application on to their devices.

In addition to the tablet, SuitePad offers advertising on landing pages that users frequent in order to sign on to the wifi network.

More than 300,000 people use SuitePad each month, which adds up to 35,000 hours or 4 days of data. This allows the Berlin startup to see at what times people are most likely to order certain things, which translates to effective targeted advertising.

“We can’t make your guests get hungry,” von Petersdorff-Campen said. “But we can inspire their appetite.”

The way to “inspire” an appetite is to advertise food options around meal times or spa options after gym use.

“Even if you think you’re hotel doesn’t have that many services to offer, there is always a way to upsell,” von-Petersdorff-Campen said.

Services like late checkout, in-house breakfast or services within the surrounding communities are easy ways for hotels to increase their offerings and maximize guest revenue.

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