Pest control through an IoT platform: the new reality for hotels

Much has been written about the potential of the Internet of Things to revolutionise industry and our lives since scientists at Carnegie Mellon University connected a Coke machine to the Internet in 1982. That application was limited to reporting the stocking level and the temperature of the drinks, but it is significant that the first application the scientists thought about was related to food!

There is still a long way to go before IoT reaches its full potential, but in hotels, IoT technology is already starting to make an impact. This article describes three areas that hotel managers should be aware of:

• customer experience: automation and customer engagement are the areas most rapidly adopting IoT applications
• hotel operations: building management systems are becoming cheaper and more efficient through developments in IoT technology
• pest control: Rentokil’s connected technology, PestConnect, can revolutionise integrated pest management for hotels by providing 24/7 monitoring, alerting, reporting and analytics

In the hotel and hospitality industry, IoT and related technologies are starting to make a mark on the customer experience in several ways. DePinto listed some top trends already impacting the hospitality industry. These include:

• guest room automation: remote control of heating and lighting
• predictive maintenance: using sensor data to monitor devices in the hotel to check they are working normally and predict when they need maintenance
• mobile engagement: offer guests more interactivity and control of rooms through their smartphones
• hyper-personalisation: using an IoT platform to track customers’ preferences and set up their room in advance
• location based interactions: providing advice to the customer such as eating suggestions, traffic updates, hotel offers. Google, however, is already a leader in this feature, having the ability to track phone owners down to the building they are in and send prompts and suggestions, such as posting a rating of the service.

On the operational side, there are numerous applications for IoT once sensors, connectivity and even actuators (where applicable) become standard in devices. By building a robust IoT platform for customer experience, a hotel will be well prepared to add other applications for hotel operations.

Building management systems are being transformed by IoT technologies. New terms such as ‘smart buildings’, ‘building automation systems’ and ‘the Internet of Buildings’ have been coined to encompass these new applications enabled by IoT. The low cost of IoT devices is also expected to lower the traditionally very high cost of building automation.

The devices that could be connected with IoT technology include: lighting, heaters, thermostats, cameras, water coolers, air conditioning, sprinkler systems, taps, showers, pipes, electrical switches, plugs, sensors for light, noise, smoke, humidity, and temperature.

Three areas of hotel operations that are expected to be impacted first are:

• energy management: monitoring and control of lighting, monitoring of hot water usage and power socket usage Energy management: monitoring and control of lighting, monitoring of hot water usage and power socket usage
• environmental monitoring: monitoring of environmental factors that affect guests or that could be controlled better to save costs, such as noise, humidity, room temperature
• building automation and monitoring: elevators and HVAC systems (heating, ventilation and air conditioning). IoT enabled devices can communicate the state of the systems and if they need maintenance or are likely to fail

Many of the applications forecast to be enabled with the coming of IoT are some way from being practical and for hotel operations the practical applications are still limited.

In the area of pest control, however, Rentokil has developed a system of connected devices that are already installed in hundreds of customer sites.

The PestConnect system has a portfolio of pest control devices that have a range of sensors that send data automatically to a cloud storage system. Infrared sensors in the devices can detect a pest and activate a trap or allow it to access bait.

The devices then send their activation data to the Rentokil cloud storage system, and automatically trigger alerts to Rentokil technicians via a dedicated wireless network or a GSM mobile network.

• RADAR Connect for mice: designed for businesses with zero tolerance to pests, it captures, contains and kills mice humanely and hygienically, using CO2
• AutoGate Connect for rats: intelligently controls access to bait, complying with European regulations governing the use of pesticides
• Cage Connect for wild mammals: traps live wildlife in an effective and humane way and sends an automatic alert so technicians can respond quickly to remove the animal from the customer site

Our customer portal, myRentokil, collects the data from the cloud storage system and provides an integrated reporting and analysis system. This system allows businesses to monitor their devices on mobile devices and analyse the data for their sites in real time.

The PestConnect system with myRentokil enables businesses to intelligently monitor and control pests. Combined with site assessments and recommendations from our highly trained technicians the system provides:

• accurate records with a view of pest activity and pest prevention and control measures
• 24/7 information accessible from a range of smart devices
• pest prevention recommendations from our skilled technicians with priority status updates
• multi-site capabilities supported by site plans, with ability to drill down to the level of detail required
• trend analysis of pest activity, including reports to support legislative reporting and auditing requirements for potential risks to be anticipated and preventative measures to be taken;
• customised user reporting with the ability to schedule reports as required; document download facility