So, with the device's third birthday in mind, Hotel Check-In asked a variety of travelers and hotel industry workers to identify the top ways that the iPad and tablet computers have changed the lodging experience. Here are their picks:
1. Replacing old binders, hotel directories and menus. At hotels including the Hilton San Diego Bayfront and the Boston Marriott Long Wharf, the concierges are equipped with iPads so they can give inquiring guests images of the restaurants, clubs and tourist attractions that they're recommending. "Today, all of our concierges have most of their restaurant choices and tourist attractions on the iPad," says Marc Hoffman of Sunstone Hotel Investors, which owns 26 upscale chain hotels. "In an old-fashioned hotel, they'd flip through a three-ring binder," Hoffman adds.
The Hilton San Diego Bayfront hotel recently installed six iPads mounted in brackets around its bar so that guests can read digital menus instead of paper ones. There are potential drawbacks to using tablet computers as menus, however, says hotel design expert Patrick Goff, who publishes HotelDesigns.net. He's seen some hotel restaurants give a table of two just one iPad forcing them to share, he says, calling the practice "pretty useless."
Read full story at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/hotelcheckin/2013/04/09/how-has-the-ipad-changed-your-hotel-life-fewer-work-hassles-better-entertainment/2056945/
