As more and more people decide to really treat themselves on vacations, luxury hotels are slowly becoming a dime a dozen. This means that truly unique, smart-savvy hotels are emerging to the delight of tech lovers everywhere. Now, things that used to seem possible only in futuristic movies are here for our pleasure. An iPhone that shows you to your accommodations? Sure. A retina scan to enter your room? Why not? A 15-ft robot arm to sort through luggage? You betcha. Welcome to the future. Now may we take your bag, sir?
10 Smart Luxury Hotels
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Alma Barcelona, Barcelona
Carrer de Mallorca, 271, 08008 Barcelona, Spain
With a location as gorgeous as Barcelona, it’s hard for any upscale hotel to disappoint. The Alma Barcelona offers the usual suspects – indoor pool, rooftop terrace, beautiful rooms – but introduces something new by way fingerprint swiping to access your room. Never worry about losing a room key again! As long as you can hang onto your fingerprints, you’re good.
Blow Up Hall, Poland
Kościuszki 42, 61-891 Poznań, Poland
If you enter this hotel looking for a reception desk, you’ll be wandering for a while. Here, there is no reception and the rooms have no numbers. Instead, you’ll receive a ‘key’ iPhone that will direct you to your room, allow you to enter it and be at your fingertips whenever you need something from their virtual concierge.
Hotel 1000, Seattle
1000 1st Ave, Seattle, WA, United States
Never again will you know the embarrassment of being walked in on by a member of hotel staff. At Hotel 1000, once you enter your room, a small electronic doorbell scans the space with infrared sensors to detect your body heat. Saving this information, it allows the staff to know when you’re in your room or out. Which means you can dance in your skivvies all you want.
Kameha Grand Bonn, Germany
Am Bonner Bogen 1, 53227 Bonn, Germany
It’s not always the technology that you can grasp in your hands that is the most impressive. At the Kameha Grand Bonn a geothermal power plant is hard at work churning out 70 per cent of the hotel’s energy. If that fact doesn’t already blow your mind, the hotel’s futuristic, psychedelic decor sure will.
Kube Hotel, Paris
5 Passage Ruelle, 75018 Paris, France
Don’t let the quaint, 19th-century Parisian outside of this hotel fool you. Inside, things couldn’t be more current. Between preloaded iPods, multimedia plasma screens and fingerprint technology all around the room, you’ll be hard-pressed to find anything old world here. Oh, and the beds glow.
Las Alcobas, Mexico
Presidente Masaryk 390, Polanco, 11560 Ciudad de México, D.F., Mexico
When you think about a Mexican vacation, you inevitably think about beautiful beaches. Well, get your head out of the surf because it’s not only about boring all-inclusives. The Las Alcobas hotel thought summoning a butler with your voice was a hassle so they offer rooms with a controller that rings your butler for you. It also orders room service, draws the shades and sets the alarm.
Nine Zero, Boston
90 Tremont St, Boston, MA, United States
It’s funny that there’s a zero in the name of this hotel because there just so happens to be two in 007. You’ll be thinking of James Bond as you head up to the 19th-floor penthouse suite and use a retinal scan to access your room.
The Peninsula, Hong Kong
Salisbury Road, Tsimshatsui, Hong Kong
In addition to perhaps the grandest front entrance we’ve ever seen (thanks to a $58 million renovation) The Peninsula has all the amenities to make clients happy: ultra high-speed Wifi, a wireless laser printer/fax/copier/scanner, tablets also control the lights, climate, drapes, etc. Also available to guests is a large 3D TV and Blu-ray player, with loaner goggles and 3D movies available.
The Halkin, England
5-6 Halkin St, Belgravia, London, UK
Everything you could ever want is available to you at the touch of a button. Each room at The Halkin in London has its own wall console so you’re never more than a few feet from true comfort. Call a butler, dim the lights or turn down the music all from one pad.
Yotel, NewYork
570 10th Ave, New York, NY, United States
After staying at Yotel, you might find yourself turning up your nose at bellhops. Here, the bags are left to the attentions of Yobot, a 15-foot automated luggage handler. Without leting bags pile up and get misplaced, Yobot takes luggage from a large rack and organizes them so they wind up in the right room. Go ahead and stare, just don’t get any fog on Yobot’s window.
