A hotel is a whole world with a lot of inhabitants that have their own needs and habits. The main objective of a hotel is to make the life of a client happy and comfortable, but it’s not so easy to put that into practice. Guests are becoming more and more exacting, they need more than just fax and Internet connections in the room. That’s why today systems of creating individual comfort draw attention of most hoteliers. One of the inventors of such systems of technical comfort is Jacques Levy-Bonvin, the Swiss expert. He is the author of more than 50 technical publications dealing with this topic, including the concept of the four comfort categories (thermal, olfactory, technical and economic comfort).

Q: Mr. Levy, please tell us when and why you have decided to devote your life to the hospitality industry?
A: It was about 20 years ago that I understood that technology can help both hoteliers and hotel clients to create the better life quality. As I am a frequent traveller and have visited a great number of countries, I come to the conclusion that a hotel client who pays money merits getting the best possible comfort, especially when (s)he is staying at a four or five star hotel. My education and experience have let me find simple but important decisions for improving thermal, olfactory, technical and especially economic comfort (which permits to get the best ratio price/quality).Q: Mr. Levy, please tell us when and why you have decided to devote your life to the hospitality industry?
A: It was about 20 years ago that I understood that technology can help both hoteliers and hotel clients to create the better life quality. As I am a frequent traveller and have visited a great number of countries, I come to the conclusion that a hotel client who pays money merits getting the best possible comfort, especially when (s)he is staying at a four or five star hotel. My education and experience have let me find simple but important decisions for improving thermal, olfactory, technical and especially economic comfort (which permits to get the best ratio price/quality).

Q: What higher education did you get?
A: I graduated form the School of Engineering in Geneva in 1964; my specialization was electronics and nuclear engineering, but soon I became interested in the problems of automatic control and technical management of a building.Q: What higher education did you get?
A: I graduated form the School of Engineering in Geneva in 1964; my specialization was electronics and nuclear engineering, but soon I became interested in the problems of automatic control and technical management of a building.

Q: How did you begin your career? What were your first steps in the industry?
A: First I wanted to become an expert in nuclear engineering and work for CERN in Geneva. In 1964 – 66 I worked at the department of urban projects’ lighting of Westinghouse. After that I was the chief of the department of electricity, manufacturing of electric indicator boards, refrigerating equipment, etc. at an important Swiss contract company. Since then I engaged in the domain of the technical management of all types of buildings: offices, universities, administration buildings, commercial centres and of course hotels.

For twenty years I have been in charge of the international department a multinational Swiss company and I’ve travelled to more than 85 countries in order to create the distribution network Sales and Marketing of that society. Since 1996, I have become the Head of the department Marketing Hotels of Siemens Building Technologies Ltd.

Q: For many years you’ve worked with different building management systems. From your point of view, why do hotels need special technologies of building management?
A: The problem is that the fundamental difference between a hotel and a traditional office or administrative building has been disregarded for thirty years. Of course, hotels also have similar public areas, such as restaurants, lobbies, conference rooms, etc., and the same service zones like kitchen and storage spaces. But at the same time in a hotel, the private sphere is an extremely important feature, i.e. the guest bedroom in which the customer expects to find personal comfort, security and respect. So to meet these requirements we need some special building technologies.

Q: Which are the main items that hotel clients complain of? What are the ways to eliminate those problems?
A: One third of all hotel guests’ complaints concern the room temperature – either the desired temperature cannot be obtained at all or operation of the system is too complex. Noise from the public spaces, adjacent rooms or the street is another source of dissatisfaction, and odours a third. Often, investors also pay too little attention to these factors – after all, they are not the hotel managers and they are too far away from the dissatisfied guest.

So several years ago our company Landis & Staefa, a member of the Siemens Building Technologies Group, created a product that permits to solve a great part of those problems. Our specially targeted system Aladin combines a building and room management systems, takes account of the guests’ special needs and also cuts hotel operating and energy costs.

One key factor here is that the central point to which all the other components are connected is the PC at the reception desk. If a guest has a complaint, he always turns to the reception in the end – and it is from here that a fast solution must be found.

In this system, the magnetic card is not used simply to open the doors. When a guest is in his bedroom, he inserts the magnetic card in a special badge holder. This switches the power supply on. At the same time, the reception is notified that the guest is now in the room. A control panel in the room enables the guest not only to adjust the temperature and lighting: he can also indicate when he does not want to be disturbed or when he would like the room to be made up. These signals are then displayed outside the bedroom in the corridor and notified to the reception desk.

Q: You travel a lot because of your occupation. What are your personal criteria in choosing a hotel to stay at?
A: The quality and personalization of service, security, thermal comfort, sound proofing (the problem which isn’t solved in a great number of hotels). I like spacious rooms where I can move without running across furniture’s corners and where I can work.