The Modern Hotelier #116: Panic Button Technology: Protect Hotel Staff | with Ryan Heideman
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Steve Carran: We are coming to you from the Hospitality Show. We're joined by Ryan Heideman from React Mobile. Thanks for joining us today, Ryan. How are you doing?

Ryan Heideman: I'm doing good. Excited to be here in San Antonio.

Steve Carran: San Antonio. Absolutely. First day of the show. Things are getting kicked off. Going well so far?

Ryan Heideman: Yeah, so far so good. We're really excited about the next day and a half or so.

Steve Carran: Awesome, awesome. So, before we really jump into the questions, tell us a little bit about yourself. How did you get started in hospitality?

Ryan Heideman: Absolutely. So I've been in the technology space for the last 20 years. Seattle's got a big technology ecosystem. And, uh, six years ago I started at React Mobile and didn't really know a lot about the hospitality space and have been in it ever since. It's a really, really unique industry in terms of the people that you talk to and the customers that you'll have for a long time. So, really excited about that.

David Millili: That's great. If you just give us an overview of React Mobile and what you guys do.

Ryan Heideman: Absolutely. So, React Mobile has been around for a little over ten years. We are an enterprise workplace safety platform, so we provide help when and where you need it at the push of a button. That's really what we're all about.

Steve Carran: So there's other safety platforms out there. What really separates React from maybe one of those other platforms?

Ryan Heideman: Yeah. Uh, there's definitely, you know, a lot of bells and whistles out there, but we want to do one thing and do it really, really well. We also understand that, you know, uh, our product is able to work for, uh, a lot of different types of hotels. Hotels, you know, they're not one size fits all, uh, so we have a lot of different products that can fit and tailor to a specific hotel's, uh, infrastructure, but more importantly, budget.

David Millili: That's great. And tell us more. Give us some of the difference—I'm looking right now at some of them—the different types of panic buttons that you guys offer.

Ryan Heideman: Yeah. So we have three different types of panic buttons: a Bluetooth panic button, a standalone cellular panic button, and then the one that we launched earlier this year, which is our LoRa panic button. So, for any hotels, what we've seen over the last, you know, six months to a year is, you know, areas where isolated employees are working. Yeah. Cellular panic button radio is not going to work. And so you need that technology to be able to call for help in, you know, elevator stairwells, back-of-house areas that you would not be able to have that initially. So that's what our new LoRa product does.

David Millili: Great. That makes sense. That's awesome, that's awesome.

Steve Carran: And you guys have quite a few products on your table right now. Can you go over what you have here and specifically the access point that you guys have?

Ryan Heideman: So, uh, I mentioned earlier that, uh, we integrate with your existing infrastructure, depending on the hotel. And that's obviously from a cost perspective, so it lowers that cost for a hotel. But more importantly, you know, we want to be able to make that, uh, you know, that investment with them. And so we integrate specifically with access points, and that acts as a geolocation. So we provide that, uh, that specific information that's coming from that AP in that guest room that allows us to pull in that exact room-level accuracy when they trigger the panic button and know exactly where they are.

David Millili: Right. And tell us more. This show is obviously put on by AHLA. Tell us more about your involvement with them and the Alert Device Buyer's Guide that you've worked with them on.

Ryan Heideman: Yeah, really important stuff that we've been doing with them. Uh, React has been involved with that since the inception of that Buyer's Guide in 2019. Uh, it really helps, you know, for any hotel—specifically with housekeepers—understanding that they can be in a vulnerable situation at times. And so maintaining a safe culture and work environment is really critical in this industry. Uh, you know, whether that's, you know, uh, something like a medical emergency, trip and fall, or, you know, uh, making sure that you have awareness for, uh, you know, human trafficking and things like that. It's really critical for this industry. So we've been really happy and proud that we've been a part of that and helping drive some innovation, uh, to technology or with technology to hotels on that.

Steve Carran: That's awesome. So for all the hoteliers out there that might need more security products like you have, where can they find you and how can they get a hold of you?

Ryan Heideman: Yeah, well, we're at booth 722, and you can find us at reactmobile.com as well.

Steve Carran: Awesome. Well, that sounds good. Ryan.

David Millili: Thanks so much.

Ryan Heideman: I appreciate it guys.