A new service which aims to provide super-cheap, bandwidth-wide telephone calls in hotels was unveiled today – though bosses admit they are to some extent at the mercy of mobile network providers.
Clasix is an ambitious project run out of Toronto, Canada, but with a focus on European hotel chains to give owners what it says will be a 100MB pipe into properties.
The consumer pitch is a competitive 60 minutes of talk time for Euro 5.99, with Clasix (chaired by Adrian Science in Toronto and biz dev handled by Michael Lacy in London) throwing a free installation proposal at prospective chains and hoteliers.
For techies interested in the finer details, Clasix uses a ‘Dual Stack IPv4/IPv6’ system – a next generation technology which is beginning to replace the ‘Public IPv4’ kit.
Lacy, who some in the UK will remember is also the boss of mobile travel tech firm The Handy Group, says for the time being the consumer rack rate for the service is far more economical than using a mobile to make international calls when on business.
Clasix TravelTalk is the flagship product for a wider range services in the TravelSuite pipeline including multi-media entertainment consoles similar to airline systems and web access through the same pipe.
But with a raft of competitors across the world, not least the Sprint telecoms giant in the US, Clasix will have to secure a number of deals to make an impact on the global hotel tech marketplace.
The company's systems will be in 60 hotels by the end of 2010, Lacy predicts.
Although in Europe many of the mobile networks appear wedded to hugely unpopular roaming charges, despite changes in legislation forcing prices down, Lacy admits the prospect that a sudden reduction in fees would give Clasix a different challenge to simply one of installing technology and attracting hotel partners.
Clasix is trialling the service at three locations in Europe including the Hyatt Charles de Gaulle in Paris and Hotel L'Europe in Amsterdam.