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Dumbing Down The Alarm Clock

Or making it easier for tired guests to wake up

By Madelyn Miller

Hilton Family to Install Custom-Designed Clocks in Nearly 250,000 Guest Rooms Nationwide  

Ever get frustrated with the clock in a hotel room or worry about sleeping past the alarm in the morning?  Starting this month, travelers who stay at the Hilton Family of Hotels won’t have to lose sleep over how to set the alarm clock ever again.

It may not be as important as a better mousetrap, but it does help weary travelers.

In an effort to help guests be more productive, the Hilton Family of Hotels custom designed its own clock, featuring one of the easiest-to-set alarms ever.  What’s more, the new clocks also feature a connection cable for MP3 players and other portable music devices, an addition Hilton made after research revealed that consumers prefer to maintain their own music lifestyles while on the road.

Nearly 250,000 new clocks will be phased in to all existing and newly opened Hilton, Doubletree, Embassy Suites Hotels, Hampton Hotels, Hilton Garden Inn, Hilton Grand Vacations Club, and Homewood Suites by Hilton guest rooms between now and July 15, 2005.  Hampton Hotels led the way by installing its version of the easily set clock in 2004 within more than 130,000 hotel rooms.*

“The Hilton Family continues to bring the comforts of home to the hotel room as part of the overall sleep experience - including cozy beds - enabling guests to sleep more soundly,” said Tom Keltner, Executive Vice President, President – Brand Performance and Franchise Development Group.  “Just in time for Daylight Savings, the hour has arrived for a superior hotel alarm clock.”

Survey Reveals Consumer Frustrations with Hotel Clocks

By introducing the new clock, the Hilton Family of Hotels hopes to alleviate a commonly held frustration by consumers about hotel clocks.  According to a recent survey, more than half of business travelers (57 percent) have worried about sleeping past their alarm, and only one in five respondents (18 percent) actually trust a hotel alarm clock to wake them up in the morning.  In fact, millions of Americans consider setting a hotel alarm clock to be the most complicated task versus filing their taxes or programming their VCR.

The survey also revealed that 41 percent of respondents would rather wake up to music instead of a buzzer (39 percent) or nature sounds (11 percent).  More women (45 percent) than men (37 percent) prefer to wake up to music.

World’s Easiest-to-Set Alarm Features

The new Hilton Family clock houses a sleek design and simple digital alarm interface for buzzer, radio wake-up and snooze.  The simple-to-set alarm feature requires just three easy steps (also printed on the front of the clock):  1. Press Alarm Set; 2. Indicate Alarm Time preferred by using increase or decrease buttons; 3.  Press Enter.  Additional features include:

• Four pre-set buttons for local radio stations designated by a graphic of the music type

• Connection cable for use with guest’s personal MP3 player, portable CD player, laptop and other entertainment devices

• Built-in stereo speakers for radio or connected devices

• Large LCD screen with dimmer that adjusts to high, medium or low

• Automatic daily alarm time reset, preventing an alarm set by a previous guest from repeating

Operationally, the hotel staff sets the time zone information only once (the clock arrives with time and calendar pre-set by the manufacturer) and the clocks automatically adjust one hour ahead for Daylight Savings Time and back to Standard Time, and adjust for Leap Year. 

Donating its Time….Literally

The Hilton Family of Hotels is donating the old clocks to their local communities through a coordinated program administered by Gifts In Kind International, the world’s leading charity in product philanthropy. The clocks will be sent to a broad network of non-profit organizations such as the Salvation Army, American Red Cross, The United Way and local women’s shelters.

*The new clocks at Hampton Hotels do not feature the jack for an MP3 or CD player hook-up.

Methodology

Kelton Research conducted the survey on behalf of the Hilton Family of Hotels between March 18-20, 2005.  The survey includes responses by 1,000 consumers and has a +/- 5 percent degree of error.

About Hilton Family of Hotels

Hilton Hotels Corporation is recognized internationally as a preeminent hospitality company. The company develops, owns, manages or franchises more than 2,200 hotels, resorts and vacation ownership properties. Its portfolio includes many of the world’s best known and most highly regarded hotel brands, including Hilton®, Conrad®, Doubletree®, Embassy Suites Hotels®, Hampton Inn®, Hampton Inn & Suites®, Hilton Garden Inn®, Hilton Grand Vacations Club® and Homewood Suites by Hilton®.

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