The hospitality market in Germany has had to accept losses of earnings and turnover. The difficult economic conditions, the continuously high unemployment, the international terrorism and its consequences did not make it easy for the hotel operators. From these trends - even also in economically difficult times -potencial opportunities result for them in target group oriented offerings: health-oriented, but additionally culture and event-oriented travel offers as well as sport vacations such as gulf, tennis, hiking and sailing. The future senior generation becomes not only travel-more joyful, but also travel-more experienced and thus more fastidiously. Hotels therefore must increasingly offer qualitatively high-quality offers for an attractive price-performance ratio. Hotels are frequented daily by new guests, who itself would like to inform about the hotel-own service offer or about cultural, spare time or sport offers in the environment in as short time as possible. The employment of an interactive information terminal, which offers the hotel guests via a selection menu access to special interest areas, represents an important service advantage. Via the Internet access the hotel guests can send and receive emails or surf in the Internet. The innovation strength of a hotel will be crucial, in order to achieve also on a long-term basis good extent of utilization levels. In particular business and many travelers presuppose a problem-free and fast entrance to the Internet. Hotels without modern information and communication devices will not be competitive in the long term. In order to promote these investments to the public, increased marketing activities can be seen, e.g. in the USA, where hotel operators increased their investments for marketing by 6,1 per cent. The annually published Kiosk Benchmark Studies - provided by Gartner for the Kiosk Business Magazine show that Hotel Guest Check-in-Terminals already crossed the trough of disillusionment and are already on the way of acceptance.

The first self-service terminals in hotels were set up approximately into the years of 199, however the acceptance by the guests was not yet overwhelming, so that they disappeared again to a large extent - except for some exceptions. But a second wave of hotel kiosk with substantially more functionalities started now. Hilton, Radisson, Sheraton, Starwood, Marriott, Carlson and others intensify at present their lobby kiosk investments with the goal of increasing the customer loyalty particularly for businessmen. Because saving of time became for this target group a substantial criterion for choice. Therefore hotels exceed themselves to arrange for them the check-in and check-out especially in peak times as fast and efficiently as even possible. Typically for this new generation of hotel kiosks is e.g. the "Sheraton Speed Check"-Terminal.

Beside the check in and/or check out terminals, pure information terminals, ATMs and Internet surfterminals are the most often used kiosk terminals in hotels with over 30 per cent according to a study.

Even if another study resulted in that very many hotels in Germany (74.4 %) still have not deployed any kiosk terminal, nevertheless most of them believe that such a terminal could provide them an additional value and/or improve the total service of the hotel. As pre-requisite they call among other things. a "simple usage" (72,2%), the "access to the Internet" (72,1%), "reception and send of e-mails" (69,6%), "hotel information" (53,1%) as well as "touristic information " (50,6%).

At Check-In-Terminals hotel guests can check-in themselves at each time simply, comfortably and fast and also check-out again if necessary without needed personnel for this.. Thus the hotel management offers an essential, modern and demand-oriented service to its guests. Such check-in-terminals in the entrance hall of the hotel makes possible an extended check-in time of 24 hours and offers thus an additional service to the hotel guests. At the same time they contribute crucially increasing the efficiency of the receipt personnels' main tasks. Beyond that a lot of further service functions such as online banking, touristic information, bookkeeping systems for flight and railway journeys as well as car rental and Internet shopping can be integrated in check-in terminals.

The Hilton Hotels Corporation has deployed check-in terminals even since the year 2004. Travelers can check-in at one of several kiosks, which are set up within the area of the hotel entrance hall. The guests identify themselves over their credit card. The kiosk confirms the reservation and selects a room, which corresponds to the desires of the guest. Via a key automat the room key is spent. At an attached printer the hotel guest infers a written description of the way to his hotel room. When wants to check out himself, he also can print a voucher of the hotel bill. To a later period it is also possible to view photos of the individual rooms or to be able to book service packages of the hotel. The today's business traveler is quite used to it for many years to use the newest techniques e.g. cash dispensing automats with the banks or check-in terminals at the airlines; therefore he also expects such a service with the hotels, particularly if he has it hasty and at the hotel's reception there is a large crush. The usage of check-in terminals is for the Hilton Hotels another example how Hilton deploys user-friendly, innovative technologies, in order to improve the services for those guests, who wish it and to give the service staff the possibility to be able to offer to the guest an increase in value, who asks for it. Alternatively also check-in over mobile devices and over the Internet will be made available. Furthermore a special service consists of connecting kiosk terminals via WLAN and setting them up at the end of a conference in front of the conference room, in order to provide for the conference participants the fast check-out. In order to improve the service for the business travelers more and more, Hilton is about to allow them to check-in already at the airport and to hand them out the room key there. Check-in terminals with the Hilton hotels are gladly used by the guests - in the last years from 10 to 12 per cent of the guests in that hotels, which offer this service, in some hotels there was even already 35 per cent on the average. Due to an inquiry of the Starwood Hotels and Resorts even 55 per cent of their guests regard kiosk terminals as an absolute must. Therefore at least in the USA each week new check-in terminals - called "Sheraton Speed Check" - are deployed, until all their Sheraton hotels are equipped with it. Tests in Boston and New York resulted in that the guests do need less than 1 minute for check in and/or check out at the kiosk terminal. In the meantime also the Marriott International Hotel Group decided for check-in terminals and test them at several US-american airports. Recently also the Hyatt Hotels Corporation announced the deployment of Self-Service Check-in/Check-out Terminals in their hotels in the USA and Canada. Beside the already well-known service achievements the hotel guest can also use the terminals to make reservations for the dinner, to order its favourite newspaper and to book a set of leisure activities.

The hotel receipt personnel knows it best: The same or very similar questions are placed again and again by the hotel guests: Which objects of interest are there in the closer environment? How do I arrive where? Which leisure activities here can one exercise? etc. Foreseen of the fact that for most at the hotel receipt active employees it is of advantage, if these standard questions are removed from them to a virtual portier in the entrance hall of the hotel, then lies the concrete value for the hotel management in the fact that the capacity of the employees can be used otherwise and the personnel requirements can be reduced altogether. Time-consuming information advices are taken over to a large extent by the kiosk system. Via a selection menu the hotel guest receives answers to typical questions (like leisure activities, objects of interest, hotel service offer, theatre or cinema programs, car hire etc..) and can take this as print-out on his room, if a printer is integrated. Via an installed Internet access further information from the Internet can be called up and likewise printed out. The Charles Hotel in Cambridge, Mass. (USA) aims with the installation of kiosk systems on the improvement of the customer service by the supply of guest information. With the systems guests of the hotel-owned restaurant as well as hotel guests, which want to inform about the entertainment offer in the environment, are to be achieved. The solution offers information to all hotel-owned restaurants and bars, to the jazz club, to conference and meeting possibilities as well as allocation plans of the rooms. Over an integrated content management system contents are daily updated.

Besides exquisite room environment, excellent kitchen and perfect service the Steigenberger Airport Hotel Frankfurt offers also a visitor information and location system to its guests. With several interactive touch terminals, plasma display and electronic door signs the modern conference and business hotel offers to the guests the fastest and most flexible ways to desired information. Fast and clearly meetings, restaurant offers, news and messages as well as advertisement can be prepared and presented on the screens. Apart from these passive information possibilities the guests can also call up interactively information. At three kiosk terminals the guests can orient themselves in the building complex over a visitor location system. On the basis the visualized building plans important information like the own location, the location of conference, meeting and office rooms, elevators, escape routes and much other more is callable. Besides that it is much more easy for the guests to find their discussion and/or conference room, because electronic door-signs, which are centrally fed with information, inform the guests e.g. about holding time or type of meeting. Totally about 81 contributions are available for the interactive call; the contributions consist among other things of digital films, PowerPoint presentations, pdf documents as well as special web sites on the hard disk or directly out of the Internet. Additionally also the download of on-line information from the Francfurt Airport is possible: over the Internet sites of the airport airline connections and further airport information can be queried.

A special service for airline passengers is it to already offer to them in the hotel the possibility for the check-in with their airline. Such airline check-in terminals are available for hotel guests for example in several hotels in Las Vegas. But also in Germany such airline check-in terminals are deployed, like Lufthansa's "Quick Check-In"-Terminal in the Hilton Hotel in Frankfurt/Main.

During his journeys the business traveler does not do gladly without "his" newspaper. From newspaper kiosk terminals in the hotel lobby he can print out his accustomed newspaper up to date and in a handy size. At present hundreds of such kiosk terminals are installed worldwide in hotels, in which over 175 international newspapers are available.

In the future still further technologies will become ready for the market and deployed in the hotels, e.g. Digital Signage and RFID (Radio Frequency Identification). At present RFID revolutionizes the business processes in retail. The application possibilities of RFID in the hospitality marketplace are not yet completely identified, but with a slow, but constant employment with so-called "early adopters" is counted shortly, since RFID ensures them an improvement and a simplification of the processes. The deployment for access system, for hotel-own service offers as well as for providing falsification-safe tickets are possible operational areas.

Further information you will shortly find in the "MediaCityReport - with multimedia media on the overhauling trace ", the most extensive and so far singular study about the best practise of Kiosk Terminals and Digital Signage all over the world.