Managing a successful hospitality business requires building a loyal customer base in which guests view you as the “host with the most.” The key to building that relationship with guests is to understand and fulfill their needs.
For today’s increasingly mobile world, guests’ needs center around high speed internet access (HSIA). Over 90% of business travelers are bringing a laptop and a growing number of non-business travelers look to access social media and other sites via personal laptops and tablets. According to Fox News “86 percent of guests expect free Wi-Fi, so paying steep Wi-Fi charges at checkout could put a damper on a guest’s entire hotel experience.”
It is not enough to just offer free internet access; guests expect their hotel room to provide the same level of speed, dependability, and convenience that their office or home network provides. In fact, HSIA is becoming a differentiator, as many guests specifically ask for it, making it one of the top determining factors in choosing where to stay.
Guest demand for bandwidth is increasing rapidly, and hotels are striving to increase the amount of bandwidth accessible to their guests. Furthermore, hoteliers everywhere are experiencing a substantial increase in the number of devices per guest that need to connect, thereby adding to bandwidth demands exponentially. Hotels now need to support the bandwidth requirements of multiple devices per occupied room, and HSIA delivers more bandwidth than other methods. The ability to deliver consistent, bandwidth-rich HSIA ensures guests’ satisfaction and repeat visits are achieved, and is predicated on building a solid structured cabling infrastructure.
A solid network cabling infrastructure allows a property to deliver quality HSIA to guests by:
- Supporting technologies such as Voice over IP (VoIP) telephony, wireless internet access (Wi-Fi), and IPTV (Television over IP networks).
- Providing the scalability to increase bandwidth with rising demand
- Ensuring guests are always connected to Internet services. Typically, hotels and resorts will implement a mix of wireless and wired connections to ensure that guests have 100% connectivity at all times.
It’s not just guests that enjoy the benefits of HSIA that a sound network infrastructure solution provides, employees will also benefit from not having to handle support issues from guests. Less time spent on HSIA support issues allows employees to concentrate on other service orientated tasks and activities that enrich the customer experience.
Quality HSIA built on a robust network cabling infrastructure enhances the customer experience and eliminates potential issues like:
- General dissatisfaction and poor customer reviews
- Losing repeat business
- Room switches
Beyond the guest experience, hotels have security systems, environmental controls, and non-guest services such as cloud based Property Management Systems (PMS) and Point of Sale (POS) systems. These often rely on Wi-Fi networks or robust wired networks where HSIA, built on rock-solid network infrastructure, is a must.
All of these issues have the potential to affect a property’s bottom line. Implementing a structured cabling solution that is optimized for HSIA avoids the damage that negative guest experiences or subpar operations have on a property’s revenue. As technology continues to evolve, a sound network infrastructure allows property networks the flexibility to support the integration of new technologies and increasing demands.
The thought of implementing a network cabling infrastructure can be overwhelming to hospitality property owners. However, that hesitation diminishes quickly when dissatisfied guests provide negative feedback and make other accommodations for their next visit. Providing robust HSIA service built on well-designed and tested network infrastructure is necessary for hospitality properties to provide the world class services guests demand in an increasingly technology-centric world.
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Why High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) is a Must for the Hospitality Industry was posted at Optimize IT. | http://www.datatrend.com/optimize-it