Brief
Scandic Hotels, with over 280 locations, set out to rethink the in-room TV experience. Instead of treating it as just a channel-surfing device, we aimed to transform the TV into an essential digital touchpoint — one that reduces reliance on print materials and improves real-time communication with guests. The challenge was to design a system that goes beyond entertainment and becomes a practical extension of the guest experience.
Scope
Personalized Hotel Experience
When guests checked in, their TV turned on automatically to greet them and prepare them for the hotel experience—creating a seamless and welcoming atmosphere.
Light & Dark Mode
We designed adaptive theming for TV screens with automatic switching between light and dark modes based on the time of day, or manual override for user comfort.
Guest Alerts
To improve guest safety, we designed three types of alert messages:
• Stay in room: e.g., if there’s a disturbance in the hallways
• Evacuate immediately: e.g., in case of a fire
• Silent informational alerts: e.g., elevator outages, restaurant updates
The TV would turn on and override current content when an alert was triggered, with optional sound alarms for critical cases.
Streaming & Casting
Guests often brought their own entertainment, so we made it effortless to cast content from their devices using simple in-room instructions for iOS and Android. This improved the experience and reduced the need for expensive channel licensing.
TV-Based Payments
We introduced a frictionless way to access premium content: guests could purchase channels directly from the TV and have the charges added to their room bill using a secure PIN code.
CMS-Driven Hotel Info
We replaced printed brochures with a CMS-driven digital hub that included:
• Restaurant hours (most searched item)
• Hotel updates
• Local activities and events
Design System at one place
Luckily this project was done from scratch, and that allowed us to do it by the book.
- Research
- Wireframes
- Testing
- UI
- Development
- Testing
- Development
- Testing
- Follow up and Updates
Finished product
Impact
By integrating hotel information directly into the TV experience, we eliminated the need for printed materials—reducing waste, lowering costs, and simplifying updates with a CMS. Guests could instantly access working hours, restaurant menus, hotel news, and local events right from their room.
In addition to this, we introduced a powerful guest alert system. In case of emergencies or events, hotel staff could remotely turn on TVs and display silent or alarm messages—improving safety and eliminating the need for risky room-to-room communication.