I travel a lot and I’ve seen (and used) my fair share of Do Not Disturb signs. Most hang from the doorknob, and some are inserted into the card key slot.
But who hasn’t experienced their shortcomings? Either they fall to the floor every time you open the door, or you aren’t given one at all, or someone across the hall steals yours for their door. It’s quite a customer experience problem.
At the Seaport Hotel in Boston, they’re working hard to solve this timeless inconvenience. Their solution is rather ingenious.
Press this button inside your room…
…and a light is illuminated outside your door
Now this is the same hotel whose unfoggable mirror I wrote about last year. It’s clear that they care about creating pleasurable experiences, and are using technology to bring them to life.
But how much electricity must this expend for the whole hotel? And can the lights burn out?
Has anyone ever seen this before? What more can you tell me about it?
Related Posts:
- Photo of the day: Push to take toilet paper February 28, 2009 | 5 comments
- Photo of the day: The unfoggable mirror July 9, 2009 | 7 comments
- Photo of the day: Whirlpool dishwasher utensil tray May 6, 2009 | 48 comments
- Photo of the day: Cigarette vending machine May 12, 2009 | 11 comments
- Photo of the day: Visualizing Genres June 17, 2010 | 7 comments
Very cool. Haven't ever seen this before but the lights are likely (and if not, should be) LED thus they've got a decent lifespan and their energy-consuming costs would be marginal.
This is very common in high-end hotels in Europe and China.
As Mikey said, they are likely to be LEDs which will last 25+ years and eat virtually no energy. The mechanical button is more likely to fail (won't push in or out) before the LED fails.
I've seen something like this on a cruise ship. Instead of a light it was a card that slid up and down. It worked quite well as no one could steal them, they didn't fall off, and they didn't use electricity.
I actually walked all over the ship curious if the cards got bent or worn out somehow, but I couldn't find any evidence of that happening.