Hotel Upgrades Conference Rooms with WallVault and PoleVault Systems

The Kapok Hotel is an independent, locally owned boutique hotel situated just outside the capital city of Port-of-Spain on the island of Trinidad. The 10-story building includes event spaces for corporate meetings, weddings, and events. When the hotel made the decision to upgrade the AV systems in their three conference rooms, they partnered with AV integrator Streamline Systems for system design and installation.

Hotel management wanted the new AV systems to be highly reliable and easy to operate, so that their business clients could conduct meetings with minimal technical support. They also wanted to ensure that key AV equipment would be secured to prevent loss or damage due to theft or tampering.

Streamline was confident that Extron’s complete AV systems for switching, audio amplification, and control would be a perfect fit. “We have installed PoleVault® and WallVault® Systems on previous projects,” says Michael Pereira, Director at Streamline Systems. “Our installation team members, as well as our customers, have all reported that the systems exceed their expectations.”

It's so easy to operate the systems that users are comfortable doing it themselves during a meeting.

Michael Pereira, Director at Streamline Systems

The Pem Bois Room

The Pem Bois room was the first of the three conference rooms to be upgraded. The room is designed for small private meetings with up to six participants. Large windows on one side of the room let in plenty of daylight. Engineers at Streamline knew that the image from a projector would be washed out in the bright ambient light. So, to get the best image possible, they chose to install a wall-mounted 42" flat panel display at one end of the room.

The choice of a flat panel display led to the selection of the Extron WallVault System for AV switching and control. The WallVault System installed in the Pem Bois room features a unique, wall mount enclosure for securely mounting the system switcher and other components on the wall. The tamper proof and theft deterrent enclosure met the hotel’s goals for making equipment secure.

Technicians from Streamline were able to install the complete WallVault System in only one day, including cabling and configuration of the wall mounted MediaLink® control panel. Included wall plates support VGA, HDMI, and composite video sources and were connected to the switcher using lightweight CATx cable.

Guests who use the conference room for a presentation simply connect their laptop and press a single button to power on the display. The system will also support other sources, such as a DVD player or document camera. “Managers at the hotel are extremely pleased with the result,” says Pereira. “It's so easy to operate the systems that users are comfortable doing it themselves during a meeting.”

The Samaan Tree and Kahuna Rooms

Following the successful installation in the Pem Bois room, hotel managers approved a phased upgrade to the hotel’s two larger meeting rooms. The spacious Samaan Tree room is designed to accommodate large groups comfortably and can also be configured for more intimate gatherings. The Kahuna Room, with ceiling-to-floor sliding glass doors and a large balcony, is ideal for small to medium-sized meetings and workshops.

For each of these larger rooms, engineers at Streamline specified a ceiling mounted projector. In one of the rooms, engineers installed a PoleVault System, which features a secure enclosure for mounting system components above the projector. A second WallVault System was designated for the other large meeting room, due primarily to a low ceiling height.

Engineers were able to customize all of the system packages to meet the specific needs of each room. For instance, the engineers selected four ceiling speakers for the two larger rooms, while a single pair of in-wall program speakers were used in the Pem Bois room.

“The main reasons we liked the choice of Extron systems for our conference rooms were ease of use, installation flexibility, and aesthetics,” says Daniel Rose, Facilities Manager at the Kapok Hotel. “These are robust, effective, and attractive systems that I am happy to recommend to others.”

Positive Results

“The hotel has been very pleased with the Extron PoleVault and WallVault systems,” says Pereira. “With a single button for system power and intuitive controls, conducting an AV presentation is a breeze for both hotel personnel and guests.”