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Hyatt adds high-tech amenities for diners at hotel in Dallas airport

DALLAS Hyatt Hotels Corp. is using iPods and other computer technology at its airport hotel here to guide patrons through tastings or wine pairings, a sales-boosting technique already being considered for other restaurants within the chain’s hotels.

 

The 298-room Grand Hyatt at Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport lets guests check out an iPod loaded with a video podcast that guides them through a tasting. Under the iTaste program, a cheese or wine tasting is priced at $25, and a chocolate tasting costs $20. The program is available at the property’s Moka lobby coffee bar. Guests must return the iPod after the 30-minute tasting, but they get a DVD of the podcast to take home, said general manager Michael Stephens.

 

 

The program started three months ago, and Stephens said 10 to 15 are sold each day and that iTaste generates about 26 percent of Moka’s wine sales. Hyatt paid about $2,700 for 12 iPods to start the program.

 

 

In addition, the hotel helps patrons of its Grand Met restaurant make entrŽe selections and wine pairings with The Virtual Menu, a program run on tabletop computers. By touching the screen images on a tabletop computer, guests can get detailed menu item descriptions and chef recommendations for food and wine pairings. It also includes wine lists with notes and scores.

 

 

After completing a virtual tour, guests place an order with their personal waiter, who is there to make further recommendations and answer questions.

 

 

Grand Met has four of the moveable Virtual Menu systems, which cost Hyatt about $2,500 apiece. The system has increased average checks by about 18 percent in the three months it has been offered, Stephens said.

 

 

“We are constantly looking for new ways to utilize the latest technology in order to provide our guests with services they cannot find at any other hotel,” Stephens said.

 

 

The program was developed by the Grand Hyatt but has caught the attention of interested sister properties.

 

 

Both programs were developed in conjunction with AVT Communique and The Creative Effort, both divisions of Hospitality Partners LLC of Arlington Heights, Ill.

 

 

DFW International Airport owns the hotel, and Hyatt Hotels Corp. of Chicago manages the property.

 

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