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A little cellular hospitality

The hospitality industry is a machine. It is a titanic mechanised animal with whirring circuits, cogs and wheels that work relentlessly to stay afloat – and, more than that, be profitable – in one of the most competitive arenas in the world of commerce. And like any machine, it has certain weaknesses which individuals and groups of ill intent are keen to exploit for their own benefit.

Unfortunately, in the case of the hospitality industry, the main weakness has always been security. Being a multi-million Rand industry, and one which is intrinsically linked to the comfort, safety and wellbeing of its patrons, the hospitality sector faces enormous challenges when it comes to protecting its own assets and providing a safe milieu for those individuals feeding their machine with revenue.

Centurion’s MyGSM range of GSM monitoring and switching devices has a tradition of providing effective guest management in the hospitality industry. It is especially proprietors of bed and breakfast establishments who stand to benefit from this versatile take on visitor control. For example, using the MyGSM.co.za online portal, bed and breakfast owners can stipulate arrival and departure times for their guests and also specify the time periods during which guests will have access.

In other words, if a guest is staying for two days, the administrator of the unit can configure the system so that said guest’s mobile number will only allow him access for the two days specified and then automatically be deleted.

The MyGSM range provides up to eight optically isolated inputs (depending on the model), which can be used to monitor a wide variety of electrical devices by receiving SMS alerts. In a hospitality or catering setting, a popular use of this functionality is to monitor AC power so that elected personnel are notified via text message when the power to refrigeration units, etc, is cut and can take action accordingly.

Furthermore, the MyGSM.co.za Web portal provides a bulk SMS facility, allowing B&B owners to send personalised, scheduled messages to patrons prior to arrival and subsequent to departure and engendering the personal touch, which has sadly become somewhat of a rarity within the hospitality industry.

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