Welcome to the ultimate techie's delight — a roomful of the latest high-tech toys, tools and wizardry, available to a select audience of guests by courtesy of Hilton Hotels Corp.

Unlike the Room of the Future, its predecessor of a few years back, Hilton's newly designed Hilton Technology Room will evolve with rapidly changing developments in the industry. It serves as a fully functioning laboratory for product introductions and aims to gather customer feedback on new and emerging technologies. The room, in the University Wing of the Hilton Garden Inn LAX/El Segundo, CA, is open to guests on an invitation basis.

“The Technology Room is designed to continually evolve by integrating the latest advancements in entertainment, communications and rest into a seamless guest experience,” says Patrick Terwilliger, senior vice president of design, construction and purchasing for Hilton. “In its current iteration, it blends high-tech features into a luxurious guestroom setting, enabling us to gain insight into how guests interact with the technology and which pieces would be appropriate for our hotels.”

BELLS AND WHISTLES

A first glance reveals the Technology Room's bed positioned at a 45-degree angle; a sweeping expanse of granite for the desk element; clean, modern lines; a prominent, upholstered headboard and dramatic lighting.

The entertainment and communications centerpiece is a 16 × 9 format, 70-inch advanced front projection screen complemented by a Bose home theater system. The Lifestyle 28 Series II home entertainment system offers five-channel surround sound and includes an integrated progressive scan DVD/CD player and AM/FM tuner.

The video system includes a front projector, nestled in a ceiling-mounted enclosure and electronics for video signal processing and switching. The wall-mounted screen is optimized for color, contrast and viewing angles, to provide a fine image even in a well-lighted room. Digital satellite and high-definition channels, digital music channels and on-demand movies are fed into the room.

An AMX Touch Panel wireless remote control unit serves as the “brains” of the room. It centrally controls most of the room's devices, including the stereo, televisions, automated climate control, window coverings, lighting, security camera and housekeeping status. With the touch of a menu screen, guests can control the digital media, change the climate control, adjust the lighting to the mood and view visitors at the door via an on-screen display. The concept of “Do Not Disturb” is taken to a new level with the ability to adjust the electronic housekeeping alert via the touch panel without even having to get out of bed. Another panel, wall-mounted between sink and tub, controls the bathroom TV.

The bed substitutes a system of air baffles for a conventional bed. It continually adjusts to body contours and an articulated slat foundation allows guests to find just the right position.

Several traditional features enhance guest comfort, including a mini -refrigerator with electronic compressor-less technology and a single-cup gourmet coffee maker. An illuminated glass curtain separates the wet bar and entryway from the guestroom, enabling guests to customize parts of the room. Guests can store valuables in the biometric safe using their fingerprints to lock and unlock it.

The bathroom mirror contains a de-fogging membrane and the shower has four automated jets and a digital display. The hair dryer is made of crushed tourmaline mineral and combines ionic and infrared technology to decrease drying time by up to 60 percent and cut static electricity and frizz.

So far, customer feedback has been very positive, Terwilliger reports. “Guests really like the display technology and the sound,” he says. “We went to great lengths to make it user-friendly, too; much technology today doesn't pay enough attention to the casual user so it was an important factor on the interfaces on the remote control panel.”