The Highdown Hotel occupies a beautiful spot in West Sussex with the South Downs to one side and the coast at Goring-by-Sea to the other. The property was acquired by hospitality company Brunning and Price in 2018 and the site has undergone major renovation in order to meet the owners’ objective of marrying the history of the building with the best in modern hotel technology and convenience.
Tom Foster, General Manager at the Highdown, worked alongside colleagues at Brunning and Price and specialist design teams to source the best finishes and solutions. The Highdown has 13 bedrooms, and high on the design priority list was the selection of a secure and stylish door entrance system.
Tom comments: “We conducted lots of research into door entrance systems. We were particularly looking for minimal design – subtle solutions that would work well with our chosen doors. We also needed the solution to be secure and effortless to use – by staff and guests alike.”
The design committee eventually pinpointed the Dialock DT710 door terminal sets, designed and supplied by Häfele. Dialock is an advanced identification and locking system which uses electronic keys, terminals and programming units to allow authorised access.
Dialock has been fitted on all guestroom doors, as well as on the main entrance door to the building. The main entrance is controlled by the Dialock WT210 wall reader, a mains operated wall terminal for offline operation. The entire set-up is controlled via the Dialock Hotel software management tool.
Tom continues: “First and foremost we liked the aesthetics of Dialock. We have slim silver door handles with a small disc below showing the wifi symbol. Guests simply hold their key cards near the disc for access. The look is minimalist and clean.
“We also liked the fact that the keycards are slimline but very robust, they don’t have magnetic strips so they can’t get wiped or corrupted. We’ve experienced that issue before, particularly when keycards are in contact with mobile phones, and it can be very disruptive.”
Once Dialock was installed, the Häfele team then spent two days training staff at the Highdown in usage – including changing keycards and setting up new ones. Select staff were also shown how to set cards to allocate authorisation to certain individuals at certain times. For example, housekeeping staff might be issued with cards which give them room access between the hours of 9am and 3pm.
“We found the Hafele team very helpful,” Tom concludes. “They were always on hand to manage any queries and to offer expert advice throughout every stage of the process. “The Dialock system is up and running and it is delivering precisely what we want in terms of look and feel and ease of use. The ultimate aim is guest convenience and satisfaction, and Dialock is helping us to achieve that aim.”