Built specifically for business travellers, Courtyard strive to provide a hotel experience that "caters for the generational shifts in how guests work, live, and travel."

The Hotel

The newest of Courtyard's 13 UK based hotels, the state-of-the-art Courtyard Exeter Sandy Park is located just off the M5 motorway, providing easy access to Bristol, the West Country and Exeter's historic city centre. 

Following a £30M build, the hotel is the next stage in the development plans of Exeter's award-winning Sandy Park complex - home to Gallagher Premiership Rugby club, Exeter Chiefs, and the region's premier conference & banqueting venue.

The eight-storey property features 250 bedrooms, leisure facilities, an open plan bar, coffee lounge, a rooftop cocktail bar and a stunning glazed bridge, connecting the site to the Exeter Chiefs stadium.

The Technology

In keeping with the state-of-the-art Sandy Park facility, Airwave recommended Otrum's Enterprise interactive information system, embedded within the hotel TVs and  underpinning the guestroom entertainment system.

Built on an HTML foundation, Otrum Enterprise is a powerful software platform, delivering a seamless user experience across TVs, tablets and smartphones. Using a web-based content management system, Enterprise enables users to quickly and easily design and upload content.   

Airwave's design engineers put together a series of pages (based on Marriott branding), including: 

• a number of information pages, including: a welcome page from the hotel's GM,  room details, restaurant information, local area information, gym information etc
• 24/7 EPG (electronic programme guide) w/ international channels
• a line-up of radio channels
• Access to Google Chromecast, enabling guests to cast content from a smart device, to the television
• An 'Internet TV' page, with access to smart services such as VOD movie app, Airtime, catch-up TV services, YouTube etc - offering smart services to guests without smart devices or the technical savyy to cast content
• Local weather conditions (see below image)

Ahead of the implementation of Enterprise, Airwave installed an IPTV headend. This enabled the delivery of a portfolio of channels, including a full Freeview line-up, international channels and BT Sports.

Sandy Park chose Samsung hospitality TV displays, with 262 x 55-inch ET690U Series displays wall-mounted in the guestrooms, and a further 5 displays installed in the hotel's public areas, meeting rooms and the rugby club academy.

A further 6 x 32-inch ET690U Series displays were installed in public areas, all playing a variety of sport (with an emphasis on rugby, of course) from BT Sports channels.

Airwave were delighted to work with Wi-Fi partners, Mikenopa, who implemented a Wi-Fi 5 system throughout the hotel, providing guests with super-fast Wi-Fi connection both in the guestrooms, and in the public areas.

We're proud to have been part of this exciting project, providing Exeter with a much needed four-star hotel resource, to accompany the current high-end and budget portfolio within the city. I'm now an Exeter Chiefs fan, and hope they provide me with a little more pleasure than Arsenal!

Paul Chambers, Sales & Marketing Director, Airwave