Strong unified organization will optimize offers to customers

A new worldwide organization, ASSA ABLOY Hospitality, brings together the Group’s four brands serving the hospitality industry, Elsafe, Timelox, VingCard and Inhova. The aim is to better respond to the growing security concerns of major hotel owners, operators, and their guests. The new organization was launched in November 2002 in the USA and will be extended to other regions during the first half of 2003.

“ASSA ABLOY Hospitality can offer the best solutions for any security challenge”, says Dag Schjerven, President and ceo of ASSA ABLOY Hospitality. “We recognize that each hotel requires different security solutions. By bringing together a better and broader product offering, we can meet our customers’ individual needs in the most efficient and convenient manner.”

The positioning of the brands has been carefully considered. VingCard, the largest hotel-lock company, will aim for the middle and high-end segments. Timelox will be a customized integrator, concentrating on the top end. Inhova will use its leading-edge technologies to offer innovative locking solutions. Elsafe is the undisputed leader in hotel-room safes with a product portfolio that addresses all market segments.

VingCard/Elsafe – Profitable outcome despite stubborn recession
The VingCard-Elsafe Group continues to suffer from the deep recession that hit the global hospitality industry after 11 September. But thanks to efficiency in personnel reductions and ambitious sales efforts, company profits have recovered.

Dag Schjerven explains the impact on the hospitality security industry which his company helped pioneer: “In the year and a half since these tragic events VingCard and Elsafe have seen a 20 percent decline in global sales. Our hotel-safe business was impacted immediately, with even sharper decreases to incoming orders. The drop in the hotel lock business took longer to manifest itself. Prior to 11 September 2001 the hotel industry had been growing steadily for nearly ten years. Fortunately the cruise and ferry segments of the business have continued to show good growth throughout the year.”

VingCard is the leading supplier of electronic locking solutions for the hotel and cruise ship industry and has the largest installed base with some three million locks sold worldwide. The prolonged sales recession led the company to widen its tough restructuring program, which has included staff reductions and other cost-cutting measures to safeguard profitability. These measures have had the desired effect. Continued focus on improved processes within the production units has led to additional profit opportunities.

Profits have now been restored to pre-September-11 levels. Dag Schjerven reports rising yields on new-product initiatives in both the hotel lock and safe sectors. Looking ahead to 2003 he expresses cautious optimism. “We see early signs of a return to stability in the market with the possibility of modest growth ahead. We already see pockets of growth in certain European countries as well as the Middle East. Now parts of Asia are starting to bounce back and China is becoming an increasingly active market.”

Continued consolidation in the hotel sector, with some ten international hotel chains dominating the industry, favors companies that can offer a total security solution and service package backed by the diverse resources of the world’s leading lock Group.

VingCard has developed new security solutions that meet or exceed 2002 ul Standards in North America. These include a unique automatic deadbolt for guest-room doors which is activated when the door is closed. Elsafe is the first company to achieve the ul listing for hotel in-room safes. The new safes employ a unique hook-shaped locking mechanism that substantially increases the security of the product. A new line of safes based on biometric identification technology has been introduced to meet new demands in this age of heightened security concern.

The spectacular new Rica Seilet hotel stands on the Romsdal Fjord in Molde on Norway’s beautiful west coast. With its location practically in the water and its striking design in the shape of a sail, the hotel has already become an architectural landmark. Guests in the 164 rooms on 15 floors have breathtaking views of the mountains of Romsdal. For the security and safety of its guests and the protection of their belongings, the Rica Seilet has chosen VingCard Classic electronic guestdoor locks with VISION software.

Timelox – Higher sales in top-end hospitality market
Despite a slow start to 2002, Timelox finished the year with a 20 percent increase in worldwide sales. President Jan Wabréus says the gradual pickup in the high-end hotel sector in the United States has helped his company rebound from an otherwise sluggish market. The USA accounts for some 50 percent of sales.

“Our main hotel products are designed for hotels in the four to five star category. Our Dual Card technology, which comprises a multi-function magnetic card for guests and a smart card for hotel staff, is a unique worldleading standard for the hotel industry, first introduced in 1998.”

Timelox’s guest card can not only be programmed to allow guests access to their rooms; it can also be used to pay for transactions in the hotel restaurant, gift shop or casino. The smart card issued to hotel staff gives the hotel administration unprecedented flexibility. It can be re-coded each day to allow cleaning staff access to individual rooms, certain floors or other specified areas.

Since its introduction, the Dual Card system has been substantially enhanced to encompass the latest technological advances. Today’s systems are specially designed for easy integration into a hotel property management system offering the highest level of security. Features can include integrated cameras monitoring all entrances to the establishment, room-by-room climate control via infrared links, and even door-ajar warning. For larger hotels with thousands of rooms, Timelox places decentralized keycard encoder stations at strategic locations throughout the hotel property.

Timelox also designs a range of offline systems for hospitals, educational premises and industrial and commercial companies. These systems are costeffective, easy to install and offer a completely new security philosophy for organizations accustomed to dealing separately with exterior protection and interior protection. Timelox can protect and control whole buildings by securing more interior doors than before. For exterior protection the systems can be integrated with an online system in cooperation with the Group company Solid.

These commercial systems are marketed worldwide mainly through local ASSA ABLOY companies, except for the Persona range for the educational market which is marketed in the USA through a dedicated organization.