Productivity is a marriage of hardware and software

THE next time you check into a hotel in Europe or the US, chances are that you would be able to bypass the traditional stop at the front desk, do a self-check-in at an e-kiosk, and go straight to your room.

The same efficiency that we now associate with automated machines (ATMs) at banks and online check-ins for flights is now reaching the hotel world.

Such automated check-in systems may soon be on offer in Singapore too. In October last year, it was announced that Far East Hospitality's Village Katong Hotel was working with the Singapore Tourism Board to test-bed a self-check-in system. In a typical system, guests che…