Consulting powerhouses align to deliver the best in AV + IT for the lodging environment
[Gaithersburg, Md. and Toronto—March 15, 2016]— Electro-Media Design Ltd. (EMD) and The HIDI Group (HIDI) announce a strategic alliance designed to deliver more comprehensive AV + IT and Engineering services for today's competitive lodging environment. By combining EMD’s 25 years of consultative expertise in hotel AV operations, audio, video, control, and related presentation, entertainment and communications technologies with HIDI’s 40 years of multidisciplinary engineering knowledge, the global hospitality industry will now have a single authoritative resource with which to collaborate when planning new, or renovating existing, hotels and event spaces.
"The stars aligned to unite two of hospitality’s best-in-breed consulting companies with complementary fields of expertise,” said Jeff Loether, EMD founder and president. “The result of this exquisite and synergistic relationship is pure magic. We have collaborated on dozens of projects worldwide, including 11 Four Seasons Hotels from Madrid to Massachusetts, The Quin Hotel in New York, Hilton Lagos Nigeria, and the Loews Regency in Houston. Today, we are delivering a five-star consultative service from the hoteliers’ perspective. With EMD focused on entertainment technologies, acoustics, and space design, and HIDI specializing in network and security services, now hotel companies, developers, asset managers, architects, interior designers, construction managers and contractors can design and build the best venues on the planet.”
Today’s global hotel brands intricately curate their guests’ experiences, and as such, Loether explained, they require a highly committed and skilled group of experts to develop the designs needed to guarantee the best results. To ensure flawless execution of technologies from guestrooms to event spaces and everywhere in between – whether it’s during a new construction or a facility renovation – a holistic view of the project from an AV + IT and Engineering perspective is required. The EMD/HIDI alliance is bringing this necessary expertise to the table, and then some.
Electro-Media Design has managed hundreds of meeting/conference project designs related to AudioVisual, Acoustics, and Entertainment Design. Loether has authored the master design standards for some of hospitality’s largest global brands and written supplemental AudioVisual and Acoustical “Best Practices” books that are used to guide the efforts of architects and developers. EMD’s AudioVisual Consulting practice includes: Control & Automation Systems, Building Management Integration; Live and Post AV Production; Production and Feature Lighting; Show Flow, Staging, Power, Hoisting and Rigging; Equipment, Technology, Industry Trends and more. EMD also provides Acoustics Consulting to ensure the environment compliments the technologies. The Acoustics practice includes: Architectural Acoustics, Isolation, Impact Noise Analysis & Remediation, Reverberation and Echo control, Mechanical Noise, Noise and Vibration Control, Electro-Acoustics, Psychoacoustics, Environmental Noise, HVAC Noise, Industry and Product Trends, and provides both Prevention and Treatment solutions.
Named one of Canada’s “Best Managed Companies” for excellence in business performance, The HIDI Group (formerly Hidi Rae Consulting Engineers Inc.) operates with a staff of more than 150 engineers, engineering technicians and designers from its head office in Toronto, Canada, with branch offices in Calgary, Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The team specializes in the consultation of hospitality IT implementation, including: Communication Infrastructure services (cabling, voice, date, TV, WiFi, radio, telecom, and HSIA), Enhanced Cellular and Distributed Antenna Services (including network integration, phone systems, PBX, automatic call distribution and call accounting); Security Design (physical and electronic); Mechanical Engineering Design; Electrical Engineering Design (including low voltage); Architectural Lighting Design; Commissioning; and Risk and Resilience.
“Not everyone can come in and understand the nuances and equipment or the changing technology that is in the hotel environment,” said The HIDI Group President Jamie Hidi. “The players working within this alliance truly love what they do. When we’re not consulting, we’re updating our knowledge base to be the best in the industry. Our combined passions for improving facility design and implementing leading-edge property technologies is second to none. We’ve learned from past projects and share these lessons with our clients; we don’t dictate what they need without first explaining why they need it. Not every hotel wants to be ‘the elite,’ and that’s okay. Our job is to give them the options needed to make an educated decision.”
Ward Sellars, head of HIDI’s technology group, concurred.
“Today we are making available to the hospitality world a talented AV + IT alliance with high standards and an intimate knowledge of hotels and conference spaces,” Sellars said. “Electro-Media Design and The HIDI Group are a perfect marriage. Although our two practices are different, the outside world sees them as one and the same, and they expect AV and IT to be a seamless package. Much of the AV infrastructure is now expected to operate seamlessly across a hotel’s IT network, making this convergence all the more important. HIDI/EMD are committed to providing “Smart Spaces” to hotel operators and owners, so that systems can grow and change as the technology evolves. Whether you need our expertise individually on a consultative basis or collaboratively to troubleshoot problems, our flexible independent / subcontract / joint venture structure is available today to meet the demands of the thriving hotel construction market. This alliance presents the highest value with the best expertise – guaranteed.”
For more information on Electro-Media Design, visit www.electro-media.com. For details on The HIDI Group, visit www.hidi.com. For EMD media inquiries, contact Barb Worcester at (440) 930-5770 or email barbw@prproconsulting.com. For HIDI media inquiries, contact Jennifer Wieskopf at (416) 364-2100 x247 or email jennifer.wieskopf@hidi.com.
