Facilities and designs of hotels have evolved over the last few decades.
The use of traditional fixtures, big and small, has adapted to the modern era. This follows the discovery of more resilient and more creatively designed equipment to suit this age of technology and more discriminating taste and lifestyle.
The recent Hotel and Foodservice Supplier Show presented an array of these unique and should we say, necessary shift from traditional equipment.
Among the notable upgrades in hotel, and perhaps even in condominiums and resorts are high-technology, rust-proof and water-proof door locks.
Say for instance, Audacity Systems’ electronic door lock, Guardian RFID.
Company President and Chief Executive Officer Albert V. Manlulu explains this particular modern door lock functions even when it gets exposed to environmental hazards.
“Whether a door is fronting a mountainous area or a sea front, since its computer board is placed inside the door, even if gets wet or it operates in an environment with high humidity, it could still operate. Not all electronic locks are designed to be used in all-weather environment. Most locks are designed to be used indoors.”
Manlulu clarifies what limits indoor electronic locks from those that can be used outdoors, is their proneness to the usual wear and tear.
“The traditional (electronic) lock has a computer board, which stores all the key information; it creates the audit trail, i.e. who came in, what time, how many times. The board is typically located in front of the lock. Therefore, if it gets wet, it will be damaged,” he says.
Tried and tested, 10,000 units of this particular Guardian RFID lock are already installed and functioning in different places in the country.
“They are usually used in resorts and in high-altitude environments like Baguio,” Manlulu adds.
Indeed, Audacity Systems door locks seem to be selling like hot cakes in the hospitality and tourism industry.
Moreover, these locks can even be installed in yachts and cruise ships.
But wait, there’s more. Since condominium construction is also in the rise, Manlulu says their market share can also be indispensable in these structure.
“Today, people no longer want to bring their keys with them, because they usually misplace them. So your modern day dwelling unit already uses electronic locks. So we also have residential electronic locks. These could be as basic as using your finger print, biometric access to open the lock. It could be as high-tech as a facial recognition. And they can be accessible through multiple facial recognition,” he says.
Manlulu notes if a family has eight members, their door locks can recognize as many as that number of faces for access.
For him, this is not a security risk.
“On the flip side, it increases the security, because ordinary keys are easily duplicated. Let’s say if you lost your bag, your IDs that bear your residence address would be found out. The one who picked up your bag which may contain the house keys, can more easily access your house. But if you have functionality that is very unique, such as using finger print or the facial profile, you could be assured that that person has no access to that particular door,” Manlulu notes.
Speaking of security in establishments, another modern company which showcased unique and commendable technology products is Hitec International, a 27-year-old Filipino-owned company. It offers different types of systems, including that of security.
Called Amadeus 8 as its general platform, it works on a so-called “intrusion system,” which has a user-friendly graphic module (G+), which provides a graphic representation of doors, alarm zones, reflexes, processes, actions taken by cameras in sitemaps.
The system has position symbols on maps, links symbols to their appropriate components, and has the ability to pan and zoom an area on the map.
The G+ module offers the capacities which are required to meet industry demands, which include door symbols which update a door’s status, whether it is open, closed, locked or in the alarm mode.
Hitec Marketing Manager Melody Mirasol says her company offers include systems that tightly monitors security and access in hotels and other establishments.
“What we offer are systems management which are done online, or where software is utilized even remotely, so that systems are not easily breached,” she explains.
Among others, Hitec International offers these: Guard Tour System, which checks whether authorized employees and guards complete a circuit of predefined checkpoints within specific deadlines; RFID-based platform, which enables real-time inventory over asset identification and verification; parking system, which monitors parking security and movement; visitor management system, which directs and manages the flow of access rights in appointment schedules; and lift access system, which sends a command directly to the lift controller panel, instead of using relays in the standard lift integration.
Hitec International co-owner Michelle Cuenca gives God everything the company has attained over the last 27 years.
“We’ve really seen how God has been faithful in our company. He really provides for the technology and new ideas are coming,” she says.
Indeed, Cuenca explains the company has evolved.
“From Megamall, to San Juan, and now we are here. Even the number of our employees, He increased, from only three to 60 plus,” she notes.
Even during the pandemic, Cuenca says God has his hand on the company.
“We never stopped operations, nor did it close. We, however, were in a flexible work arrangement from 2020-2022. We were surprised that we even added more employees to support us. Admittedly, some had to resign due to some concerns, but God replaced them with equally qualified people who we need to serve the clients,” Cuenca relates. She is also the Human Resources Manager of the company.
Hitec International is actually a distributor of these offered systems from South Korea, Spain, Malaysia, Italy, among others. However, not all their solutions are imported.
“All our suppliers come from overseas, but since we are a technology company, we make some solutions out of these, to fit our clients’ needs,” Mirasol, on the other hand, notes.
She says a lot of their clients are from the hotel industry, but their solutions are also in-demand among manufacturing firms.
And while there may be competition in this very unique modern industry, Hitec is not at all threatened.
“Because we’ve been in the industry for 27 years, we continue to engage different industries continuously. In fact, we are having a hard time catching up on the demands,” Mirasol said.
