State Of The Art

Personalizing the guest experience of an art-deco icon with state-of-the-art technology

The Sinclair hotel in Fort Worth, Texas, is a 1929 art-deco architectural masterpiece that once served as the offices of the iconic Sinclair Oil Corporation — before CEO/Developer Farukh Aslam had a vision to transform the building into a modern, luxury boutique hotel in 2020.

“We wanted to create a guest experience that would transcend all expectations,” Aslam explained. “An interesting way to accomplish this was to start with something beautiful that presents certain assumptions — like art-deco offices of an oil company — and then offer a compelling twist. I believe we have done that with Sinclair — not just with the concept but with every detail of the execution!”

The hotel has 164 guest rooms, one penthouse, 50 room types, a roof-top bar, lobby bar and Wicked Butcher restaurant in the basement. It is a member of the Autograph collection of independent luxury hotels within the Marriott portfolio. Aslam’s organization just completed a 27-month renovation of the property.

In contrast to the hotel’s historic building status and its heartland pedigree, Sinclair has made technology a central but largely transparent component of its brand offering. From the earliest stage of development, Aslam and his team looked to apply cutting-edge technology to achieve a highly personalized guest experience. One of the few areas where technology is not transparent but is entirely in line with the ambitious design objectives of the hotel, is the in-room televisions.

The Sinclair hotel features LG 55” OLED televisions in each of the 164 guest rooms and LG OLED wallpaper displays in the penthouse. The LG 55” OLED televisions deliver high-end image 4K performance aligned with high-end guest expectations; a sleek, superior design that complements the aesthetics of the guest room and customization connectivity and control via LG’s Pro:Centric® platform that allows Sinclair to create custom dashboards and offer informative resources to make the guests’ stay more welcoming.

“Streaming services have changed how guests watch television in their rooms,” Aslam explains. “With Netflix, Disney+ and other streaming services, guests spend more purposeful-time consuming content they’re intent on watching. Having the LG OLED televisions in each room addresses that shift and is consistent with our goal to wow guests at every opportunity. The televisions look gorgeous and the image performance exceeds guest expectations.”

Sinclair also features two LG OLED 55” televisions in the lobby bar with full sports programming and two LG OLED Wallpaper TVs in the private dining rooms within the basement restaurant. The displays create a sleek and elegant look that melds seamlessly with the upscale dining experience.

Sinclair also features smart mirrors in the bathrooms from Electric Mirror. The smart mirrors have LG LED display integrated as a built in “Savvy” programming screen to allow guests to easily get weather updates, access news, stream music or call guest services from the mirror.

The selection of LG to provide guest room televisions and displays for the shared spaces went beyond the units themselves. Aslam applied a hierarchy to his decision-making. “Yes, we needed the televisions to look sleek, elegant and high-end; we needed them to deliver an exceptional picture, be reliable and we needed the customization and control that comes only from LG Pro:Centric. We also needed the service, support and warranties LG provides. I hear of some properties using commodity televisions, but the Sinclair hotel is not commodity.”

“We are certainly not the biggest hospitality customer in the world but LG has made us feel as though we are. They listened to our ideas. They sent an engineering team to visit the hotel and learn about the low voltage set-up and they continue to service and support like royalty beyond the transaction. The assurance that there is someone on the vendor side listening to you, working for you, representing your position is critical. We have that with LG and the confidence that comes from that trust allows us to concentrate on other parts of the hotel, allows us to be more creative, and ultimately enables us to be more successful,” Aslam explains.

Another remarkable feature of Sinclair is what’s not there. Instead of the ubiquitous diesel back-up generator found in the basements of hotels all over the United States, Sinclair has LG battery power installed to power the emergency system including the elevator fire pump, stairway pressurization, and emergency lighting. All of the systems needed to safely evacuate the building and keep baseline operations running for the required 2 hours of backup if an outage occurs. Eliminating the generator and onsite diesel fuel storage might have been at odds with Sinclair’s oil-industry pedigree but replacing it with batteries offered a greener and safer alternative that presented Sinclair’s insurance adjuster with a good reason to reduce the hotel’s premium.

The entire building is wired with low-voltage Powered Over Ethernet (PoE) vs. traditional Alternating Current (AC). Doing so enables Sinclair to have lower power consumption but also superior system control to offer greater guest personalization using intelligent PoE technologies including doors locks, window treatment motors, mini bars, smart mirrors, and lighting throughout the building. This has resulted in a 30%-40% reduction in power consumption compared to a similarly-sized hotel and also enables another reduction in Sinclair’s insurance premium.*

Aslam’s work in this realm has drawn considerable interest from the Silicon Valley and the global tech community: Intel and Cisco are also partners in the Sinclair low voltage initiative; he has been a regular speaker at events by BICSI, IoT Slam and the Sinclair hotel has been profiled in a wide array of trade, technology and mainstream business media.

“It all starts and ends with the guest experience,” Aslam says. “If we can use technology to create an exceptional experience that is personalized, holistic and largely transparent, then we can form an attachment with guests that few other hotels can match. It becomes an intrinsic part of Sinclair’s signature offering.”

The Sinclair hotel’s association with LG goes beyond the displays and the back-up batteries to include LG VRF air conditioning and LG lighting.

“It is truly a partnership,” Aslam says. “And if we have a partner that we can trust, we will reward that trust with additional business — not simply out of loyalty but because we know we’re both vested in the partnership, that there is accountability and that the technology and support will be there.”

“Personalization is what Farukh generates to create guest experience. Partnership is what we do to create a client experience,” explained Jeff Weiland, National Account Manager — Hospitality at LG Electronics USA, Inc. Commercial Displays Division. “Our organization doesn’t just look at the number of displays or televisions a property needs. We look at the business; we seek to understand the goals of the business; the challenges of each property and the operations, location and guest profile. With this understanding we can create a solution that includes the displays and televisions, in this case, accompanying technologies from other LG divisions, but also the service, support and warranty programs that align with the business and brand objectives of the property. That’s our definition of partnership and it’s why LG is so unique in the hospitality trade.”

Aslam agrees. “Especially in the current environment, hospitality businesses need to do everything they can to create compelling reasons for guests to visit their properties, and we also need to explore ways that technology can make our businesses stronger, more resilient and sustainable. Partnership and exchanging ideas to achieve shared goals is one way of doing this and so our partnership with Jeff and his LG team has become foundational to my business.”

As the global health pandemic comes under control, as lockdowns expire and the hospitality trade regains momentum, Sinclair will draw on the legacy of a building completed in 1929 before many global calamities that struck the world.

“I am an optimist but I am also a realist. This pandemic will change the business and it will change us as consumers of travel services. I, personally, see a shift away from consumerism towards experiences with family and friends. I would rather spend quality time with my family in a beautiful place rather than on a new car,” says Aslam. “This old building has seen a lot. It’s seen the world change many times over; it’s seen hope and it’s seen recovery. I am confident we’ll see our way through this, too!”