Novotel invites guests into the room of the future

Novotel has launched a world first: the hotel room of the future. Created in collaboration with Microsoft, the room, named Room 3120, showcases the latest in cutting-edge technology and innovative design.
Novotel and Microsoft have worked closely together to create the revolutionary room that allows guests to sample the ultimate in hi-tech hotel rooms.  The visionary room will take guests on a technological journey with cutting-edge features including a Kinect interface, Sensorit mirror based on Kinect technology, a fitness interface and a Surface multimedia table.

In keeping with the forward-looking theme, the room also includes a brand new, state of the art bed system, which is hidden away from view until it is required.

Last September, Denis Hennequin announced Accor’s new strategic objective to become the global benchmark for the hotel industry and revolutionise the customer experience. In line with this commitment to innovation, Novotel has created a new type of room that makes a clean break with traditional thinking by redefining the use of space and adding cutting edge technologies and amenities.

“We wanted to reinvent the hotel room experience by harmoniously melding design and new digital technologies,” explains Grégoire Champetier, Global Chief Marketing Officer. “It’s crucial to take our customers’ changing habits and expectations into account. In particular, this means rethinking our rooms in digital terms."

Microsoft was at the centre of the room’s design, notably with the integration of the Xbox 360 console and its revolutionary Kinect sensor, which uses body gesture and voice recognition to control games and entertainment. Novotel’s relationship with Microsoft began four years ago when Novotel started offering Xbox 360 consoles in the public areas of its hotels and this project takes the partnership to the next level.

“In the era of technological convergence, Microsoft is as always front and centre,” says Eric Boustouller, CEO of Microsoft France. “In our partnership with Novotel, we are taking this innovative room concept to a higher level with our best technologies. This new-generation room is an invitation to discover the latest advances in consumer technologies in a creative universe with a unique design."

“We wanted to do something fresh, surprising and imaginative,” explains Marcelo Joulia, head of Nao, the architecture firm chosen by Novotel to design Room 3120. “We started by rethinking the basic space, which meant leaving the stuffy old cube behind. We also worked with light and found ways to keep the furniture from being in the way. Multifunctional, flexible and unhindered, Room 3120 adapts to the guest's desires, not vice-versa."

The other features of the room include Kinect interface and an Xbox 360 console. Guests can also try out the brand new SensorIT interactive mirror, also based on Kinect technology, where information tags seem to appear by magic, or turn on the fitness interface. The features in the room are also designed for families, so they can play, surf the internet and be entertained by using the Surface multimedia table for two or more players.

There’s plenty for the grown-ups too, with access to a wide range of multimedia content, as well as music and news. Radio station NOVA (Le Grand Mix) and BFM Business, France’s leading business and financial news outlet, have chosen to partner the Room 3120 project, which makes a point of providing rapid access to world news.