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The
Ambassador Conference Resort in Kingston, Ontario, is
now combining both mobile phone and cardkey technologies
over a wireless network, allowing guests to use either a
mobile phone or room keycards to purchase Coca-Cola
products from vending machines. With a cell phone, a
customer can dial the number listed on the vending
machine and make a product selection. Hotel guests see
the applicable charges appear on the hotel invoice at
checkout. Bell Canada (bell.ca) is the wireless service
provider and cStar Technologies (cstartech.com) is the
vending and wireless technology enabler.
The hotel initially rolled out the system as a test,
which is now completed and results include increased
sales, and improved guest satisfaction. The cashless
system reduced the hotel staff's time on supporting coin
exchanges and coin jam problems. Even with the trial
stage over, the Ambassador Hotel continues to offer the
cashless vending service to guests.
Existing vending machines can be updated with cStar's
processing module to handle cell phone and smart card
transactions; there is no need to invest in new vending
equipment. The vending machine does not require a wired
online connection to process a cell phone transaction as
the installed module can create a wireless link to
forward transaction data.
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