Adapting Guest & Employee Communications at the Hilton Hawaiian Village

The Challenge:

Unsurprising for a property of its size, the Hilton Hawaiian Village sought to solve multiple challenges with its digital signage network.

One of the original challenges the Hilton Hawaiian Village came to Poppulo to solve was simplifying the content contribution and device management processes. With screens throughout its 22-acre property, the hotel needed to make it easier for staff to update signage on the fly, have that content be displayed within minutes of deployment, and be better equipped to check the status of any of its content players—all without needing to physically be in clear line of sight of each sign.

Additionally, with a greater chance of being impacted by natural disasters such as flooding, hurricanes, earthquakes, and tsunamis, the Hilton Hawaiian Village sought a method of rapidly notifying both guests & employees during an emergency. Apart from weather-related communications needs, the hotel required a solution flexible enough to disseminate other types of critical information to every screen across the property if needed.

Once COVID-19 spread to Hawaii, another critical use case for Hilton Hawaiian Village’s signage became apparent. Due to health and safety concerns as well as state mandated guidelines, the property immediately and unexpectedly faced unprecedented communications challenges. Not only did the Hilton Hawaiian Village require a way to minimize contact between team members to reduce the chance of transmission of COVID-19, they also had to eliminate the need for large back-of-house meetings at a time when communicating health and safety information was more important than ever. Additionally, the necessary launch of the Hilton CleanStay program required properties to stop using paper handouts and find a new way of communicating to guests in hotel rooms, dining areas, and other public spaces.

The Solution:

The Hilton Hawaiian Village immediately saw the value in FWI cloud over their existing solution due to its ability to provide access to multiple content contributors, easily add devices and users, and quickly swap content as emergency situations arose.

The inherent flexibility of the Poppulo platform allowed the hotel to adapt its signage on the fly and empowered individual departments to take control of the content on their own displays. Immediately after rolling out FWI Cloud, the property was able to use its screens to respond to an incoming tropical storm, providing updated weather information, storm trajectories, travel impacts and more, keeping its guests at ease and its staff informed. As part of its original implementation, the hotel leveraged the Poppulo Guest Room TV (GRTV) application in all 2,860 guest rooms to communicate Hilton brand messaging and property-specific information to guests. Additionally, the property has 20 screens for back-of-house employee communications, 50 signs in meeting spaces, 3 larger signs throughout the one of its ballrooms, and 9 screens in public spaces.

The Results

As the hospitality landscape undergoes rapid change, the Hilton Hawaiian Village continues to meet the evolving communications needs of its guests and employees by leveraging its existing digital signage platform.

The Hilton Hawaiian Village is using its digital signage to ensure that guests are aware of the safety measures the property is taking, given that individual’s concerns for their health and safety are at an all-time high. By leveraging GRTV, the hotel can act in accordance with Hilton’s new requirement to stop using paper handouts, giving guests access to details about Hilton’s CleanStay program and other relevant information through in-room TVs. Additionally, FWI Cloud has reduced the burden on the IT team by empowering non-technical employees to easily contribute content to any sign. This has enabled the 500-person housekeeping department to adhere to social distancing guidelines and hold much smaller ­­­­towers to communicate instead of requiring in-person meetings.