Hospitality and Hotels
Hospitality and Hotels
Hospitality and Hotels have some diverse network requirements.
Whether a convention centre, hotel, entertainment centre or theatre, there is one central requirement: ensure guest satisfaction.
Behind the scenes hospitality and hotels have to support operations. Systems can be diverse from checking in guests, issuing tickets to a show, through to top end AV systems in a convention centre. A multi function network to support front and back of house operations is required.
Hospitality and Hotels Requirements
Hotels require networks which deliver wired and wireless LAN to all guest bedrooms. More than this though, hotels also need to support operations, from checking guests in, through to EFTPOS operations and staff communications.
Convention Centres host high definition videos, thousands of guests and a constantly changing set of network requirements as exhibition spaces are setup and pulled down. Theatres and other venues have similar requirements and all require top notch Wi-Fi with a ease of use for BYOD / Guest access.
The Guest Experience
The guest experience is king. Guests are paying for the services and their enjoyment is key to the hotels success.
Too often hotel Wi-Fi leaves guests disappointed. This however is changing – guests use Wi-Fi as one of their metrics in picking a hotel, especially for business / overseas travellers.
Guests want to be able to easily stream their own streaming services, have access to high quality, low cost Wi-Fi.
The same is true in other venues, theatres and convention centres – if attending a conference, guests want to be able to check email while in the conference venue, so ultra high-density guest Wi-Fi is a requirement.
Staff Communications
Staff in every hospitality venue and hotel need to communicate. This could be for routine tasks such as confirming guests have checked out, rooms can be cleaned through to co-ordinating fire evacuations.
Other venues, especially large ones such as convention centres make real use of location services to confirm the location of security, cleaning and first aid services.
Voice over Wi-Fi, location tracking tags and security cameras allow the venue to control the business operations and coordinate when any issues occur.
Good staff communication can help prevent issues before they occur and ensure guest needs can be attended to in an attentive and coordinated way.
Front and Back of House
There are many control systems in a hotel and the ability to integrate security, cameras, air conditioning and other monitoring systems into one network means everything can be centrally controlled.
Guests do not want to wait and systems which break down and prevent guests from being checked in, or issued their show tickets are not welcome and can really frustrate guests.
Hospitality networks must also support the specific operations of the venue – convention centres have very specific requirements for Audio Visual integrations, with high definition video requiring high speed, low latency networks.