Each room has a room control unit. It handles the lighting, air conditioning, curtains, doorbell and status indicators, and connects to the central system over the hotel network. What the guest sees is the key card holder at the entrance, the button panels by the door and the bed, and the door panel in the corridor.
Key card energy control
When the guest puts their key card into the holder by the door, the room powers up. When they take it and leave, the lights go off after a short delay and the air conditioning drops to eco mode. A basic card holder can be fooled with any card. A smart holder accepts only cards registered to that room and can tell a guest card from a staff card. That stops the air conditioning running all day in an empty room.
Do not disturb and make up room
Buttons take the place of the card hung on the door handle. The guest selects "Do Not Disturb" or "Make Up Room" on the in-room panel. The matching light comes on at the corridor door panel, and the request appears on the housekeeping screen at the same moment. While do not disturb is on, the doorbell stays silent. Housekeeping staff can see which rooms are waiting to be cleaned from a list instead of walking the floor.
