YOTEL New York: Audio Quality on Demand

Overview

Since 2007, YOTEL has been primarily known for its international airport hotels. Located inside airport terminals, YOTEL’s cabins are smaller than traditional hotel rooms, but maximize space with a design that offers guests a sleek, flexible, smart space to relax, refresh, sleep, and connect with Wi-Fi. In 2011, YOTEL took its concept beyond the airport for the first time, opening a city-center hotel in Times Square West: YOTEL New York. The unique hotel offers 669 stylish cabins, including three VIP two-cabin suites. In addition to the usual YOTEL amenities, the VIP cabins are equipped with workstations and boardroom-style tables. For business calls, conference phones are available to VIP guests when needed, free of charge.

Challenge

When selecting conference phones for its VIP cabin suites, YOTEL had several criteria. It was a given that the chosen solution would need to provide exceptional audio quality for conference calls. In addition, the hotel required the flexibility of a wireless solution. Not only would this allow users to roam freely during calls, but it would also provide a clean look free of wires at the workstations and boardroom-style tables. Since the conference phones would be available on demand, they would need to be easy for staff to install, while offering a sleek design to complement the VIP suites. And all of this would need to come at a low cost.

Solution & Results

To meet its criteria, YOTEL purchased Revolabs FLX™ wireless conference phones from Presentation Projects. The Revolabs FLX conference phone combines wireless operation with high-quality wideband audio, 128-bit encryption, and integrated Bluetooth®. Available in both analog and VoIP interfaces, the FLX completely redefines the conference phone experience in conference rooms, executive offices, and SoHo environments. Unlike the singlecomponent design of other solutions, the FLX consists of several distinct components, giving users unprecedented freedom with respect to placement and accessibility of the speaker, microphones, and dial pad.

Available with a variety of compatible Revolabs microphones, the Revolabs FLX microphone options include a lapel microphone, worn by one person; an omnidirectional tabletop microphone that captures the sound of six to 10 participants; and a directional tabletop microphone that enables audio capture from two to three people.

"The FLX provides the ultimate in flexibility"

Because the Revolabs FLX dialer operates like a telephone for handset calls and enables the setup of conference calls, there is no need for a separate desk and conference phone. The Revolabs FLX can also serve as the audio interface with virtually any major brand of video-conferencing equipment, providing the same high audio performance within video calls.

Benefits

• Exceptional audio quality
• Wireless design allows users to move about freely while eliminating the clutter of cables
• Simple to install
• Sleek design
• Cost effective

"For YOTEL and its VIP guests, the FLX provides the ultimate in flexibility,” said Yefri Gatica, director of IT, YOTEL. “It can be installed easily and quickly by YOTEL staff, and allows users to roam about their spacious suites during meetings without being held back by wires. In addition, the FLX offers a sleek, modern look and delivers uncompromising performance in a compact, unobtrusive form factor. Other solutions we looked at lacked the FLX’s modern design and wireless capabilities, and were offered at almost double the price. We’ve received a lot of requests for the FLX phones by our VIP guests, and it has proven to be a winning solution to meet their business needs."