Music can be an important part of the guest experience. Many of you have beautiful old buildings, lovingly restored and preserved. Tearing up walls to run new cables is probably not in your future. So let me share with you some easy ways to share music around the inn without running any wires.
The first option is using what is called an “FM Transmitter”. Many of you have seen this technology before, weather years ago with “Mr. Microphone” or more recently, with an iPod adapter you may use in your car. This technology works by creating your own mini radio station. Plug your music source into the device and it broadcasts that music on a selected radio channel. The music is received on any standard FM receiver, from a stereo system, to an alarm clock. Not many people realize that there are larger versions of this same technology available as well. The biggest manufacturer of these products is Ramsey Electronics. They have provided this tech to drive in movie theaters for years. Look on eBay for a Ramsey FM transmitter. Follow their directions and you can be spreading your music around the inn for less than $400.
The second and more “high tech” solution is to provide guests with actual music choices, from the web and your personal library. There are a few companies offering this technology, but one of the first to the game was Sonos. Take a look at the Sonos
music system, which allows each room to stream web music and share a music library from a central computer. The system is completely wireless and works similarly to your wireless internet.
A new participant in the wireless music world is Yamaha. They just released the new MusicCAST2 digital audio streamer. While I haven’t had a chance to try it first hand, it looks quite promising for providing a high quality, personalized music system to your guests. It supports up to 32 rooms of individually selected music. Of course, these systems cost closer to $1,000 plus $300 – $500 per room, which may not be for everyone. However it would certainly be a marketable amenity in a high end property or room.
We all know that music is a key part of providing a full guest experience. These are some options for enhancing that experience without running any new wires.
I’d love to hear your thoughts and tips. Stop by www.tenminuteswithtim.com and let me know how you are sharing music at your inn.
Thanks for your tips about music in the Inn. Which Ramsey FM transmitter would you recommend. There seems to be a few. Do you hook it up right to your sterio or your computer
Hi Alice – it depends on how far you need the signal to reach. A good model for a single family home (or equivalent in size) would be the 25B, while for a larger area, or to cover a group of buildings, the model 100 is more powerful. You can connect any audio source to the unit, computer, satellite radio, cd player, etc… Thanks for writing!