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Focus on eTravel | November 1, 2006
Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls enhances your vacation with RFID technology
Imagine visiting a hotel with a massive indoor waterpark, a spa, restaurants, meeting spaces and many activities for your family to enjoy. Now, imagine enjoying all this and not having to carry your wallet or purse. You don’t even have to worry about your room key.
Everything is secured in your room, so you don’t have to worry about money, credit cards or any of your valuables while you, for example, go for a swim and a nice meal.
This was the vision that prompted Great Wolf Lodge, a first-class, full-service family resort, and the only exclusive indoor waterpark family resort in Canada, to deploy a radio frequency identification (RFID) system throughout its new location in Niagara Falls, Ont.
A simple RFID-powered wristband allows guests to unlock the door to their room or their locker, access the facilities, and pay for food, gifts, spa treatments and games.
"Our guests enjoy not only the fun and excitement of the water park as a family destination, but they also get this really cool wristband that acts as their key to unlock basically all the fun and excitement of the entire lodge," explains Steve Glum, Vice President of Marketing at Ripley Entertainment Inc., which owns the Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls. "And when our guest leave, the wristband becomes a neat little keepsake of their stay at our lodge."
"RFID allows our guests to have a more pleasant experience," adds Joe Tenczar, Director of Information Technology for Ripley Entertainment Inc. "They can leave their wallet in their room and enjoy the park while they’re in their bathing suit, and not have to worry about how much money they have in their pocket. And a wristband stays with them, so they don’t have to worry about losing their room key."
RFID unique to Great Wolf Lodge
Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls believes its RFID system is unique in the hotel and resort sector, and it continues to invest in the technology to enhance the guest experience. "We have handheld devices now so that the waiters and waitresses can be anywhere in the water park or at the outside pool, and can just scan a guest’s wristband from a wireless terminal," Tenczar explains. "Starting next spring, the arcade games will be RFID enabled, so guests will be able to let the game scan their wristband, then they can press start and they’re playing. From there we can look toward RFID-enabling our vending machines, and so on. We’re on the cutting edge of how this technology is being used in the hospitality industry."
What’s more, Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls has designed the system to give parents full control over their kids’ spending. "We have special bracelets for kids that don’t unlock everything, so parents have control over where their children can go," says Glum. "And parents can establish limits on RFID bracelets for their kids, so they have control over how much their children spend while staying in our lodge. Meantime, adult bracelets can simply charge to the room account, making it easy to pay for food, beverages and other services at the resort."
Great rooms
The all-new Great Wolf Lodge in Niagara Falls opened in April 2006. It features 406 suites in a variety of configurations to fulfill the needs of every guest. All suites feature a full-sized bath, refrigerator, microwave, coffee maker, iron and board, in-room safe and hair dryer, and are decorated in a rustic Northwoods-inspired design that delivers a comfortable, log-cabin ambience. Kids will love camping in their own, in-room, private sleeping area complete with their own flat screen TV and Nintendo video game system, while adults will enjoy the luxurious queen-sized beds. Some suite configurations feature romantic fireplaces and whirlpool jet-baths, while most suites have a sizeable deck or patio attached. Regardless of the accommodation you choose, Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls provides complimentary wireless Internet access and excellent cellphone coverage throughout the resort.
Great fun
Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls features 2.5 million litres of rides, slides and wet family fun in a 103,000 sq. foot indoor waterpark complete with 13 waterslides, a massive wave pool, a 500,000 litre lazy winding river, whirlpools, jacuzzis, five pools, and five fully-themed and licensed restaurants and bars catering to everything from quick bites to haute cuisine—all under one roof. In addition, guests can enjoy the resort’s full-service Aveda Spa & Salon featuring nine Feng-Shui rooms to fulfill every massage, skin and nail treatment available, including hair cutting and colouring services. There’s also a fitness room for fitness enthusiasts. For the young—and the young at heart—Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls also features an interactive mini-golf course, redemption arcade centre, gift shop, and everything else you and your family need for waterborne fun.
A great meeting place
Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls knows the best conferences and meetings combine work and fun…and the resort features 10,000 square feet of flexible meeting spaces, plus conference facilities and banquet services to cater to every need. Meantime, dedicated conference services staff makes organizing a meeting a painless experience.
Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls features five flexible meeting spaces that may be configured in a variety of seating arrangements. Whether it’s the intimate retreat of the Eagle’s Landing room, with a capacity of 16, the 75-person Whirlpool Room, the 92-seat symposium-style Niagara Falls Room, the Fallen Timbers A&B meetings space that seats up to 235, or the 2,200 square foot, 260-seat capacity Northwest Territories A&B rooms, Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls is a conference facility that’s ready for any gathering.
Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls is one of the most technologically advanced venues in the Niagara region. For example, the Niagara Falls room features front screen projection, surround sound and an electronic drop-down screen, while the executive boardroom is equipped with satellite, VCR and DVD, and can show computer presentations on a wall-mounted plasma screen. Wall-mounted, touch-tone panels control the audio-visual capabilities in most meeting spaces.
And great food
As a premier destination resort in the Niagara Peninsula, Great Wolf Lodge offers a first-class banquet catering facility with a professional team ready to cater to every request. Food and beverage service ranges from straightforward yet delicious continental breakfasts to elegant formal dining experiences that will amaze your eyes and your taste buds.
Everyone at Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls is committed to delivering not just a successful meeting, but also a memorable experience that leaves a lasting, positive impression. Whether it’s a sales meeting, a training session, a new product launch, or a team building exercise, partnering with Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls means saying goodbye to the often sterile, bland environment of conference hotels, and saying hello to a unique experience that combines state-of-the-art audio-visual services, the convenience of having everything under one roof and a very special venue.
Beyond the Lodge
In addition to being the perfect destination resort for business or pleasure, Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls is located close to the many fun attractions the Niagara Falls area offers. These range from museums and theatres, to Niagara’s award-winning wineries, and even boat tours of the Niagara River and Niagara Falls.
Great Wolf Lodge Niagara Falls is at 3950 Victoria Avenue in Niagara Falls. The resort is located along the spectacular Niagara River Gorge, just four kilometres north of The Falls, across from the famous Niagara River Whirlpool.
Internet locks boost security and convenience
Blackcomb Peaks Accommodations uses new lock technology to deliver flexible check-in and keyless entry
Renting a vacation property is a great way to enjoy Whistler Blackcomb, one of North America’s best skiing destinations. But let’s face it: if you’re skiing, there’s going to be snow, and if it’s on the roads instead of the slopes you might end up arriving in the middle of the night. Wouldn’t it be great to know your home away from home will be open and ready for you?
Blackcomb Peaks Accommodations, established in 1999, manages 35 high-quality luxury condo and townhouse properties. Each suite is equipped with high-speed Internet access and the Internet also powers Kaba keyless door lock systems installed by Secure Lodging Systems of Whistler. These locks let visitors check in and out at their convenience. "Guests do not need to pick up a key—they simply go right to the unit, type in their unique entry code, and they’re home," explains Blackcomb Peaks Accommodations owner Roy Wiltshire. "There are no line-ups and it’s 24-hour access. If a guest arrives at four in the morning, that’s fine."
Guests also enjoy the convenience of touch-pad entry, so there’s never a fear of losing a key in a mountain of snow. In fact, guests can even hit the slopes without their wallet. "Visitors can use a Whistler Express card, which allows them to spend the whole day on the mountain to ski, buy lunch, dinner and hot drinks—all billed to their credit card," Wiltshire adds.
Guests can customize their six-digit entry codes once they arrive so that they’re easy to remember, and entry codes are unique for each visitor to ensure the utmost in security.
