Case Study: Mayfair Resort, India

Rhythm Arora details how Qubix Technologies gave the different spaces at Mayfair Lakeside, India a touch of personalised care to ensure the AV systems deployed enhance their unique features and functions.

Hospitality projects require a wide range of AV systems that need to deliver varied levels of functionality. Rhythm Arora, chief technology officer at Qubix Technologies, explains the technology requirements at Mayfair Lakeside: “The hotel needed to be equipped to host large weddings, conventions, stage shows, artists and other events. This would require a large and versatile event system in the banquet hall, which should be flexible enough to be able to handle conferences in the day and a concert or a cocktail event in the evening. Additionally, Mayfair Lakeside wanted these AV systems to be concealed along with the interior design elements and AV should not be visually prominent.”

Not only did Mayfair Lakeside require the spaces to be flexible in their own right but the resort also needed the different spaces to come together and function as a whole. Arora details: “There are instances where the customers book the entire property for their event and in that case, they should be able to customise each and every corner of the property from the music in each restaurant to every display in the whole resort. And they should be able to send video feeds from one venue to the other. For example, if there is an event happening in the banquet hall, and some people are sitting in the bar, they should be able to see the feed on the display in the bar.”

Taking the brief from the client, Qubix Technologies translated it into technology systems. Arora says: “To deliver the flexibility required audio, video and lighting needed to be on the same platform. We needed the ability to route any signal to any zone. And to ensure a good UX, everything needed to be controllable from a user-friendly iPad app.”

In the three banquet halls of Mayfair Lakeside these technology systems take the shape of networked audio, video over IP and an extensive control system.

The halls have six independent clusters of JBL VRX active line arrays connected to each other via BSS BluLink. Arora explains: “In case the rooms are divided, these line arrays work as separate individual systems. When combined, they can also be used as surround speakers. We have also added a surround sound processor in the rack. If a customer wants to play content with 5.1 audio in the large hall, it can be done with just a tap on the iPad.”

Ceiling cameras cover the hall and send video feeds over the IP network. A total of five Christie 10,000 lumens full HD laser projectors are used to display visuals on 220-in projection screens. Video signals are transmitted over IP via AMX encoders and decoders.

Mayfair Lakeside boasts seven restaurants on the property and the focus for these spaces was audio. Arora says: “Music plays a very important role when it comes to creating the vibe and setting the tone of the experience at the restaurants. The teams from each of the restaurants had specifications as to what music they want to play and when. The music and the tempo changes over the course of the day and it even needs to be adjusted with the number of people in the restaurant. Being inside a resort, the occupancy is not consistent which needed to be accounted for.”

To meet these needs Qubix Technologies integrated an AV system that fit the bill. Arora explains: “We have customised a smart, multi-stream music server which fetches and updates playlists from an internet music repository from which the team can select one of the pre-sets and they are good to go. The entire system is Dante-based, and for BGM we are using 27 different Dante channels. Every restaurant has the ability to take local inputs using Dante wall plates. Even in the case of local input, the processing happens on a central BSS Blu 806 DA Dante DSP which EQs and sends the signal back to the restaurant amplifier over Dante.”

A similar level of attention to the client’s needs can be seen in the audio deployment for the 20 suites which make up the spa. Arora says: “We have integrated Alexa for each of the spa suites and this system is a handsfree music player for each and every room, and it makes it very easy for the customer to just speak out loud the type of songs they want to hear while they are getting their treatment. To our surprise, the therapists also started to use Alexa too as a timer, and also to check sports scores or even news headlines sometimes.”

Not surprisingly, delivering these AV systems tailored specifically to the spaces and their function was not easy. Arora says: “The integration between the music server, the playlist system and the AV systems along with scheduling, all these elements were hard to bring together and required a completely customised solution. The biggest challenge was to interface with a third-party internet repository, analyse the music for its BPM and then check internet databases for recommendations of similar music to provide that completely automated and curated playback experience we were going for. At the same time, we had to contend with intellectual property rights as well.”

Arora credits a drive to deliver for the client as the answer to these challenges: “We wanted to build the most user friendly and fully integrated solution for Mayfair Lakeside. We went in depth and evaluated the ‘last mile’ at the resort and came to the conclusion that bespoke software was the answer to the client’s requirements. If everything is automated and intuitive then the customer can really get the most out of its investment in AV. This bespoke software solution is an area that Qubix Technologies has been exploring and we have added this set of expertise to our roster.”

He continues: “Our focus over the last two years has been to not only integrate the equipment but to integrate customer’s business processes with the AV system. It started with the desire to deliver easy-to-use GUIs and has now evolved into the objective of making AV seamless and making AV truly plug-and-play with the entire decision process being automated once user input has been received.”

To conclude, Arora details how Qubix Technologies continues to try and provide optimal outcomes for the client: “What we have tried to ensure is that the customer uses everything and knows the features which we have built into their projects. Qubix Technologies has evolved as a business to create a ‘customer success team’. What we found was that once a project was over, the project managers and people who delivered the project in the first place leave the site and move on leaving the end user to figure out how the systems work and what features they have at their disposal. The customer success team’s job is to ensure that the engagement we had during the project does not drop once the project is complete and we continue to provide value to the customer by organising quick workshops and presentations for the end user teams after the handover to ensure they get the most out of the technology they have invested in."

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