Hotel High Tech

As some hotels start to use the iPod as an offering for guests, the W Hotel chain out-trumps the rest by offering Satellite Radio in the rooms. iPod in a room might seem to be a no brainer: fill it with tunes to reflect the hotel’s ambiance and then let the guests wonder around the city to the hotel’s sound-track.

Problem is, PSFK wonders whether hotels have the rights to just lend out their iPods willy-nilly. If it’s a business venture, don’t they have to pay rights for every track every time they hand the player to their guest? Sure, deals can be struck between hotel groups and iTunes – they better do, otherwise the hotels should be paying a buck for each track for each new guest. No? Well that’s what PSFK figures…

It’s not just the legal moves that keeps Satellite Radio at W one step ahead – it’s the thinking: low maintenance, high quality that allows the guest their choice of music/talk when they want it.

via Hotel Chatter