The hospitality industry has experienced a tough few years. The pandemic and inflation brought new challenges and guest demands and expenses, and the last update hoteliers want to do right now is invest in infrastructure for telecommunications. But if hoteliers don’t, the consequences can lead to negative guest experiences and bad reviews for a hotel, which could be avoided and could, surprisingly, save money.
Hotel guests are traveling again. Whether for work or leisure, most hotels are seeing an upswing. Some hotels are even accommodating the unprecedented amount of college students and becoming dorms for nearby colleges and universities. This increase in occupancy results in demand for significantly larger amounts of bandwidth to stream, Zoom, and connect from their room.
The hotel industry tends to lag behind the technology curve. In certain cases, some hotels need a bandwidth adjustment where a phone call can upgrade their plan and can provide guests with a better internet connection. Unfortunately, it is often not that simple. Very often, the root of the problem occurred when the hotel was built or renovated, and the infrastructure was designed to support the needs at that time. As guests become more dependent on their phones, tablets, and laptops, and technology needs increase, the network simply cannot bear the load. Evaluating current WiFi infrastructure is a key piece to maximizing the guest experience.
If in the process of building or renovating a hotel, using a telecommunications expert to help understand current and future bandwidth needs can help. In many instances, a hotel’s management team doesn’t have a telecommunications or technology background. A telecom vendor will make sure it starts off with the correct infrastructure and network and will work to increase bandwidth as needed. Vendors act as the liaison between hoteliers and AT&T and Comcast to ensure the hoteliers are getting the best rate available. Reputable vendors will not charge clients to work on their behalf with the service providers. Those companies absorb the cost of the vendor; therefore it is free of charge for a hotel. It will save time and money to use these services as opposed to trying to accomplish the same results in-house.
The industry is in uncharted territory when it comes to the waves of change in the industry. The needs of guests are constantly evolving and, unfortunately, one of those needs is bandwidth. Nothing can be more costly to a hotel than a bad review because a guest could not get on their Zoom call. Get ahead of the issue before it becomes a one-star problem for potential guests to see on the web.
About the Author
Kirt Mulji is CEO of The Lit Pipe.
