That’s one way to avoid taking the stairs, take the slide!
24-3-2015
Rapidly from the second floor to breakfast? At The RedDot hotel in Taiwan you can take a slide! Hotel guests go back to their childhood, smiling on their way down.
The slide in the RedDot Hotel
General Manager Stephen Wu of the RedDot hotel in Taichung City invented the slide, inspired by the open slides at Google headquarters. Costs: 100,000 US dollars for the 30-meter stainless steel tunnel slide. The slide consists out of 102 stainless steel parts! Watch the video for more great details in the RedDot hotel like the barber chair in the lobby and the neon lights art… Which hotel in The Netherlands is going to install a slide?
Daalder mobile payment app
23-3-2015
The Dutch company Daalder launched its mobile payment Daalder app last week, an independent e-wallet for mobile payments in the Netherlands.
About Daalder
Daalder is an Amsterdam based start-up founded by entrepreneurs Renz Millenaar, Reinhard Spronk and Romke de Vries. Thomas de With, former director of the Global Transaction Bank at Deutsche Bank in the Netherlands is member of the Daalder Advisory Board. Business that are connected through Daalder receive payments via the ‘Daalder Webkassa’ (freely translated as ‘Daalder webbased cash register) which makes payments immediately visible. In addition, it is possible to send live updates and special offers to Daalder users.
Dutch Street Food app
20-3-2015
‘Reizende Sterren’ introduces a street food app for the Netherlands. Soon the food trucks and festivals throughout the Netherlands can be found through the street food app.
The ‘Reizende Sterren street food app’ provides an overview of Dutch street food
entrepreneurs, food trucks and other mobile kitchens. The recent pilot with food trucks by the municipality of Amsterdam shows that it’s the perfect timing for such an app. In addition to visibility at festivals and events, users of the app can see where food trucks are located in the city, at designated spots on the street.
The launch of the ‘Reizende Sterren street food app’ will take place in May 2015
The street food app for consumers
• Free to download from the App Store (Apple & Android)
• Overview with foodtruck entrepreneurs, product information and their signature dishes
• Push notifications of promotions, recipes and tickets
• Current events calendar
• Information about festivals, markets, events, parties, permanent pitches
• Real-time locator with GPS
• Link with social media
• Consumers rating system
Statistics Data
With a consumer rating system within the app, it is possible to collect valuable data about consumer behaviour and appreciation that can help in the development of street food in the Netherlands. The street food app will collect data from every festival / event / food truck and ‘Reizende Sterren’ will provide an annual (public) overview of relevant information via an online analysis map.
In Japan the Hen-na hotel will be staffed entirely by robots
9-2-2015
The Hen-na hotel, will be staffed with robot receptionists, porters, cleaners and waitresses. So if you’re interested in robotic service, you will have to wait till this summer to be able to sleep in this hotel.
The Hen-na hotel has a Dutch touch
The Hen-na hotel (which means ‘strange’ in Japanese) is located at the ‘Huis Ten Bosch’ theme park in Sasebo, Nagasaki. Check out the above placed video, showing you our Dutch buildings, canals, streets and the replica of the royal palace in The Hague, in Japan!
Staffed entirely by robots
This is how it works – on your arrival, you will be greeted exclusively by a robot, you will hand over your luggage to robotic porters and check in at a front desk, staffed with blinking robots, reported The Japan Times.
The main objective of this technology is to reduce labor costs. Of course the hotel will use the latest in facial recognition technology and allow guests to open their door by simply presenting themselves in front of their room, without a key. The president Hideo Sawada promised the ‘most efficient hotel in the world’ when announcing the new hotel in a news conference. The accommodation at the hotel will cost approximately $60 per night.
We couldn’t find interesting pictures or video’s about the Hen-na hotel yet, except for this one. That’s why we choose to place a video about the ‘Huis Ten Bosch’ theme park in Japan.
Ice cream without fat and only 99 calories
21-1-2015
NIZO food research has produced a soft ice cream without fat. The unexpected creamy ice cream also contains 25% less sugar than other soft ice cream and contains only 99 kcal per 100 grams.
Properties of ice cream without fat
Regular ice cream has more than 160 kcal per 100 grams. The unhealthy characteristics are mostly caused by sugar and saturated fat. The reduction of these ingredients in ice cream normally have a negative effect on the texture and other properties. With the implementation of natural proteins, the creamy properties of fat and the body of sugar are replaced.
Horecava
During Horecava NIZO was present with the ice without fat at the ‘Innovation Lab’ and recently they’ve published an introduction video of the product combined with an explanation of the company which was partly made during the event. The research center has been researching proteins for more than 60 years now and is focused on creating healthier foods based on vegetable and animal protein.
The vending machine of the future
6-1-2015
The Luce X2 Touch TV vending machine uses facial recognition and could deny you an unhealthy snack if you gave the machine an insight in your medical records and the product could harm you. The future of vending machines in hospitals and schools and offices?
The future is near with this vending machine
The Luce X2 Touch TV vending machine is created by Italy-based Rheavendors and recently launched in the UK by Smart Vend Solutions, the machine features a touchscreen display to select an item just like a standard vending machine. However, customers with an account can go through a facial recognition check – to approve the snack (or not) before it’s delivered.
In the last two years, Rheavendors developed the facial mapping software for the machines to allow or disallow products based on the user’s age, gender or dietary needs. For example, if the machine is configured to identify an individual with a nut allergy, it will then prevent the user from ordering a particular item with traces of nuts.
Smart Vend Solutions managing director, Malcolm Standage, about the vending machine: “Now touch screen technology, cashless payment systems, Smartphone integration and automatic dispensing is shaping the future of the industry and we want Smart Vend Solutions to be positioned as a specialist in this marketplace. Through our exclusive partnership with Rheavendors, we are determined to explore unprecedented avenues and endless possibilities in vending. Launching the very first full production facial recognition technology represents an advancement which will bring unlimited benefits to businesses and consumers across the UK.” If you want to know more, contact their office.
Eye tracking app tested by Pizza Hut
19-12-2014
A digital app that makes choices for you. Pizza Hut and the Swedish eye tracking innovators of Tobii are testing the possibilities in an app. They hope to launch with their subconscious ordering feature by the end of 2015. It could change our dining experience, especially for those who have difficulties choosing between pizzas.
Check out their video to see how it should work!
About eye tracking innovator Tobii
Tobii is the world leader in eye tracking. They transform industries and lives with humanized technology using eye tracking as core. Tobii delivers comprehensive, market-leading eye-tracking for applications such as computers, gaming and vehicles.
Robots manage restaurant
12-12-2014
A restaurant owner in China completely replaced his staff by robots.
Robots manage restaurant
Recently we wrote an article about flying robotic waiters in Singapore. The flying robotic waiters are created to help the waiters with difficult tasks. Lu Dike from China has a different mindset and lets robots serve his whole restaurant. The restaurant is located in Zheijang, a province in China. Lu Dike is convinced that it will save him a lot of money in the future. The robots are able to formulate 40 sentences which allows them to take orders from customers and transmit the orders to the kitchen. The robots have sensors that prevent them from bumping into something.
Inspiration from Retail
10-12-2014
What could the hospitality industry learn from the ‘Future of Retail 2015’ report of PSFK? Rehab Studio Ltd. has made a video with a number of recommendations from the report. The recommendations include:
- Retailers will be challenged to create custom tailored experience for every shopper.
- They need to create the technical ability to embrace this personal experience.
- The stores will increasingly need to focus on the fact that they need to be a hub for community involvement. That’s one of their benefits over online shops.
- Checkout must be faster and more easy; paying mobile could just bring that!
Inspiration from retail to the hospitality industry
Especially for larger catering and fastfood companies there are a number of recommendations in the movie of the rehabstudio Ltd. that can be inspiring for the future. Could it work for you if you would receive personalized lunch suggestions by ‘La Place’ if you regularly eat there?
For restaurants in smaller villages, it is important to be the community hub. More and more services disappear from the smaller villages, so you could start operating as collect point for the mail, the dry cleaners and so on. As long as a large part of your potential guests does visit your restaurant on a regular base!
The catering is of course faced with new payment methods, such as paying by mobile. However, many bar, restaurants and café still only accept cash payments! The video ends with a hospitable gesture: home delivery of the groceries! Why doesn’t the hospitality industry turn this around… Why don’t they deliver a custom-made meal at the home of their guest?
Self-skimming beer glass
8-12-2014
The innovative self-skimming beer glass from FndF is marketed by Triple S International. The self-skimming beer glass has a slightly bevelled edge, resulting in skimming being unnecessary and the lager always gets a firm head of foam. The design can be delivered in glass as well as in plastic.
The benefits of the self-skimming beer glass
The company explains the benefits of their innovative glass on their website. They created a list of benefits for the consumer, catering and the breweries. The main reason to start using this glass for your guests is the fewer hygiene risks due to a skimmer in stagnant water. For the hospitality industry the biggest advantage is that anyone can tap well in this glass, especially during peak hours. You also have less loss caused by bad tapping.
Nominated for the Horecava Innovation Award 2015
Like the Breathometer Breeze, these glasses are also nominated for the Horecava Innovation Award 2015 (The Netherlands). The glasses are just like the Breathometer nominated in the category ‘Equipment and Services’. Voting is possible here.
