Being the Virtual Concierge in the middle of the Hyatt Regency Santa Clara lobby is a little like having a store front on a very busy avenue or boulevard. You come across many people from all walks of life and industries. Some walk right past me thinking I could be a picture on the wall or an on going video. For those that are very observant, they stop and engage. What can be a very normal trip across a hotel lobby, becomes a unique and memorable experience, that some are even compelled to blog about it……
Published at August 20, 2007 in Crystal ball, Video and Technology.
It’s not often that you meet someone listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. It’s unthinkable to think that I actually met this person over a wide-screen monitor in the lobby of the Hyatt Regency, Santa Clara (Silicon Valley)!
Her name is Anna Mariano-Morris (a.k.a Virtual Anna) and she’s been a virtual concierge for over 7 years!
What began as a trip through a hotel lobby became a feeling that I was being watched by the ‘video’ on the wall behind the concierge desk and the realization that that ‘video’ was an actual person that could see me!… in the end, it was an amazing 1 hour conversation about how we have reached a time in history when all the subtle nuances of a human conversation can be captured by a high speed connection, a wides-screen, and some cameras and speakers. It was no less than a glimpse of the future… today.
- Anna actually sits 80 miles away from the Hyatt at her home in Contra Costa County
- After having children, she was tired of the commute and made the suggestion to be the concierge virtually from home. With the help of a forward thinking manager, she became a virtual concierge over 7 years ago. She now works from 9am-2pm and 5:30pm-8pm every day in order to spend time with her kids.
- She uses a DSL line today and a Sony video conferencing system
- I believe that a lot of the realism is based upon the availability of high speed with smooth video and the fact that Anna’s image is so large coming from a wide-screen
- The art is in the details of what she’s done
- Anna has painted the wall of the extra bedroom of her home the same color as the wall that she hangs on at the Hyatt
- She has hung a framed Hyatt logo on the wall to the left of her image on screen
- She is connected to the printer at the hotel via high speed and easily printed a piece of paper with her information on it for me to grab
- There is a ‘bat phone’ that you can pick up at the concierge desk that links directly to Anna
- If Anna needs to step away for minutes, she simply turns on a video
- This is the future. We all know how much we’d want to work at home or how any parent would love to spend more time with their children. The potential is only limited by creativity and the adoption by business culture.
Our Virtual Concierge
June 15, 2007 by Patrick Barnard TMCnet
We’re staying at the Hyatt Regency in Santa Clara, Calif. this week, going around and making our “pitch” to the various software vendors and other companies in the call/contact center space located throughout the Bay area.
The other night, me and my co-worker wanted to get the lowdown on which area restaurants we should go to (oh, yes, ahem, and which ones were “affordable” too), so we asked the girl at the front desk, who in turn said we should ask the concierge, who also has a desk in the main common area, across from guest services. When we asked what the concierge’s hours were, the girl at the front desk said “she works 9 a.m. to 8 p.m.,” but when we looked at the concierge’s desk and saw no one there, we asked “well … where is she?”
“Oh she’s there … she’s a virtual concierge,” the girl said.
We looked again, and lo and behold there was the “virtual concierge,” on a large flat panel mounted on the wall right behind the concierge desk (at first we thought it was just a TV). So we went over to meet her.
It turns out that the concierge, “Anna,” has worked at the hotel for more than 10 years, but when she recently had to move about 80 miles away, she came up with the idea of “virtualizing” herself through a videoconferencing solution. She explained that it was no longer practical for her commute to work, so she proposed the idea of “virtualizing” herself and handling guests remotely from her own home (in other words, becoming a home agent) to her bosses. Well, apparently her bosses liked the idea – and being the call-center-technology-junkies that we are, we like the idea too!
Anna was as pleasant as a concierge can be - and her presence was almost as strong with this videoconferencing solution as it would be if she was standing right there, serving us in person. With a good microphone, speaker set, monitor and camera in place, Anna both looked good and sounded good too. The conversation flowed well and the video kept pace with the audio quite nicely, thus creating a truly “personalized” experience. I must admit I was impressed.
Anna said she is trying to work with some call and contact centers to help develop her idea farther. She explained that one the main advantages of using this system is that it helps save on transportation costs (as you know, gas isn’t cheap these days) – plus it helps save the environment as well (a good tie-in here for TMC’s First Annual Green Technology World Conference, which is to be held in Los Angeles this fall). She pointed out that there are many occupations out there where a “virtual” person could easily perform all the duties necessary without having to physically be on the job – and of course, right away I thought about how many banking organizations are soon going to be using “virtual tellers” to conduct routine transactions at branch banks. Although these “virtual tellers” will probably be working in large centers either here in the U.S. or abroad – they could, in theory, be home agents. And if you think about it, that alone could mean thousands less cars on the road every day in the U.S. and elsewhere. Multiply that times a dozen other occupations which employ thousands of people, where virtualization could be applied, and you just might end up reducing carbon emissions by a measurable amount!
Anyway, after our nice discussion, Anna recommended a restaurant where could get a “good burger” and then printed out a set of directions for us on the printer which was right underneath the monitor. Pretty neat!
Later, when we got back from the restaurant, we saw Anna again as we walked through the front common area. Amazingly, even though we were about 25 feet away, she saw us too, and gave us a polite wave and smile – again, just as if she was standing right there! Amazing!
Even though I have my doubts that “virtualized customer service reps” will work in every industry, this experience gave me confidence that in certain industries it is going to work a lot better than any of us realize.
Now, the next step is for Anna to find a way to present her self as a hologram, instead of on a flat panel … hmm, maybe that is coming sooner than I think!
Between two of the sessions at the TechMart yesterday, I slipped next door to the Santa Clara Hyatt to snarf some wi-fi in their lobby, as well as ask for directions. Following the script I’d used a million times before, I went up to the front desk to ask for directions to the restaurant where we were supposed to meet for dinner. The helpful gentleman at the front desk said: “I’m not sure where the restaurant is…but you can ask our virtual concierge across the lobby.”
Virtual concierge? Huh?
I walk across the lobby to see this:
(click to enlarge)
A little bit disconcerting to say the least. But, rolling with it, I walked up.
“Hello, how can I help you?” the woman in the screen asked. (The concierge is real, not an avatar. It’s a video-conference setup.)
I gave her the name of the restaurant.
“They have a number of restaurants in the area. Do you want directions to the one on Santana Row?”
“Yes, please,” I said to the screen.
The fax whirred, and out came my directions.
“By the way, there are two sets of directions printing; you should use the ones for ‘during traffic’ because it will save you some time. Will there be anything else?” she asked, pleasantly.
“No, thank you.”
An interesting exchange all around, but now I’ve got a bunch of questions. Where is the concierge physically located? Is this just for the Santa Clara Hyatt, or does one concierge handle multiple hotels? What was the business driver for doing this?
Anyone know the answers?
February 3, 2006 | Permalink
