.FLYINGHEAD WIRELESS INTERNET
.TITLE The case for wireless high-speed access in hotels
.AUTHOR Sharon Kraun
.TIP
.SUMMARY As hotels continue to wrestle with how best to deliver high-speed Internet access, the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre has found itself with a winning formula. In a recent survey of guests using the hotel’s wireless high-speed Internet access, wireless availability ranked high among business travelers and was indicated as a factor in choosing their hotel.
As hotels continue to wrestle with how best to deliver high-speed Internet access, the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, shown in Figure A, has found itself with a winning formula.
.FIGPAIR A People who live in glass houses should have WiFi.
In a recent survey of guests using the hotel’s wireless high-speed Internet access, wireless availability ranked high among business travelers and was indicated as a factor in choosing their hotel.
[I recently stayed at a hotel in Orlando without high-speed access for IBM’s Lotusphere and it was quite literally a traumatic experience to be away from broadband during the evening hours. I shudder just thinking about it. –DG]
It was not that long ago that the debate was between dial-up and high-speed. What a difference a few changes in technology can make. Today the deluxe menu is all about the wires, or lack of them as the case may be.
According to Joe Palmieri, the general manager at the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, "Providing not only high-speed access, but convenience in connecting wirelessly, positions the hotel as proactive in staying ahead of our guests’ needs. We know that satisfied customers are repeat customers."
The hospitality industry is a business where convenience and service are paramount. Satisfaction equates to revenue. Today’s mobile workers are rapidly becoming dependent on information they can access any time from anywhere. Laptops are a necessity for the road warrior, and you can now access the Internet wirelessly in venues from airports to coffee shops and even while watching a hockey game at the stadium in New York City, expectations are exceptionally high for accessing the Internet at the home-away-from-home. While high speed access is today’s critical issue, forecasters predict that wireless will take front and center stage within the next few years.
Leading providers of high speed Internet for the hospitality industry include Wayport which promotes 700 hotels as customers, STSN which has 420 hotels with wireless connectivity and StayOnline which has 215 hotels it services. Only StayOnline promotes a 100% wireless solution. For older buildings, including historic buildings, cutting Ethernet wiring from the mix makes the wireless playing field an equal game for all.
This winter, the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre installed wireless high-speed Internet access with the help of Atlanta based StayOnline. Palmieri says the decision to go 100% wireless was based, in part, on the portability and the growth of wireless chips in laptops. Retrofitting the building with a wired system would have been expensive, and the system might have become obsolete in a not so distant future.
Palmieri added that it was important for the system to be engineered to fit their needs, including adapting to changing technologies. Customer service and ease of use were also critical criteria. In addition to its conference space, three restaurants and all public areas, the Hilton’s 500 guest rooms are also wirelessly enabled.
There continues to be debate on whether or not individual guest rooms really need wireless access. [They do, no question. –DG] The space between desk and phone connection within an individual guest room is always close at hand. But the comfort and convenience factor again comes into play. Business travelers equipped with wireless laptops don’t always enjoy being tethered by wires, even within the confines of their hotel room.
The Hilton hotel reports that demand for wireless has exploded since its installation. Two thirds of guests responding to a recent survey at the hotel said that the availability of wireless influenced their decision to stay there and would influence their decision to return.
Said survey respondent Sandeep Pal, "The service provides busy hotel guests the "freedom to work from anywhere — such as the lobby or your bed — without being tethered to a wall or (sic) phone outlet."
For those guests whose laptops are not wirelessly enabled, the hotel offers StayOnline’s EZAir, a simple Plug ‘n Play device that connects their computer to the network seamlessly. The system is also compatible with certified through Intel Corporation’s Wireless Verification Program (WVP), meaning travelers with the very latest 802.11b Centrino chipset from Intel can rest assured that the network is fully compatible with their computer.
.H1 Is it worth the hotel’s investment?
The Hilton Lincoln Centre has had their wireless service installed for a little under three months, but is already seeing a strong return on investment. So far, the hotel has logged an average of 600 guests per month using the service at an average daily rate of $9.95, with the numbers increasing slightly each month.
Happy customers mean repeat business and a happy hotel.
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.H1 Product availability and resources
For more information on the Hilton Dallas Lincoln Centre, visit http://www.dallaslincolncente.hilton.com.
For more information on Wayport, visit http://www.wayport.com.
For more information on STSN, visit http://www.stsn.com.
For more information on StayOnline, visit http://www.stayonline.net.
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.BIO Sharon Kraun is marketing consultant working in Atlanta, GA. specializing in consumer products and wireless connectivity.
