Cisco Converged Networks Encourage the Hotel Sector to Check into the Future
March 12, 2004
By Jason Deign, News@Cisco
Clean sheets and polite staff may have long been critical ingredients to running a successful hotel. And now - unlikely as it may sound - network infrastructure is also joining the list of the industry's must-haves, thanks to a growing demand for high-speed Internet access.
Many hotels have already invested in IP communications networks to satisfy the demand for high-speed Internet access from business customers.
And now they are starting to discover that it is just one of a wide range of potentially profitable, low-cost, personalized services that can be provided once an IP network is in place. In fact, the Cisco Systems® vision of the networked hotel is packed with customer-friendly innovations.
"Some hotels pride themselves on calling a guest by name, but that just doesn't cut it anymore," says Clyde Pearce, general manager and chief operating officer of LOK Group, which manages the 180-room Sheraton Petaluma Hotel, USA.
"You need to know a lot more than a person's name - you have to make sure that the experience is really tailored to the purpose of their visit."
Network technology is already helping this to become a reality. Soon customers will be able to use a loyalty card to log their room preference at an electronic check-in, avoiding queues.
The same card will let you into your room, ensure your preferred movies and TV channels are available, your personal phone numbers are listed on the hotel phone and (if it is down as a preference in your customer records) your favorite table is booked for dinner.
Enchanting as this setup may be, sooner or later you will want to leave your room - and, here again, network technology can add to your experience.
If you have got work to do, take the laptop up to the roof terrace and, thanks to a wireless connection, catch up with your e-mails while enjoying the view.
This vision is not futuristic. Elements of it can already be found in hotels across the world.
At the 500-room Palace Hotel in Japan, for example, revenues have increased by nearly US$30,000 a month since Cisco installed high-speed Internet access for guests.
The service is so easy to use that the hotel has never been asked to provide technical assistance and the entire installation took just two days. It will pay for itself in just one year.
"If a guest tries our Internet service for a day, he or she never stops using it until the departure day. Once our foreign guests experience this service, it becomes the reason for them to come back to the Palace Hotel again," says Kyohei Hirose, director of rooms.
The Sheraton Petaluma, meanwhile, gives guests instant access via phone or e-mail not only to each other, but to a host of services ranging from where to find the nearest post box to restaurants with kiddies' menus - all provided through an intelligent Cisco network.
Pearce: "Our guests respond to this kind of service. They say it has value, and they're willing to pay more for it."
Having to keep attracting both leisure and corporate customers - whilst maintaining high service levels and reducing internal operational costs - were also the reasons for The Crowne Plaza Dublin Airport Hotel's investment in new communication technologies.
In December 2003, the Crowne Plaza became the first hotel in Ireland - and one of the first in Europe - to offer customers complete IP-enabled services throughout the hotel and to the rooms, giving it the edge in its local market.
Having used leading networking technology from Cisco Systems, the Crowne Plaza has now deployed applications that deliver significant business benefits.
This includes high-speed Internet access in all bedrooms and conference facilities - and wireless LAN access in key locations such as restaurants, the bar, lobbies and the floor executive club lounge.
The result is that the Crowne Plaza can now offer guests four-star luxury combined with the technology standards they are accustomed to in the modern office.
Guests arriving at the hotel receive a personal identification number allowing them to use Cisco IP phones and other devices, to do everything from sending an e-mail to ordering refreshments and entertainment or hiring a car.
This kind of technology is likely to become standard-issue in hotels word-wide, particularly in regions such as the Middle East, where a large number of hospitality-related projects going up in greenfield sites.
"Hotels are investing in IP because of the clear demand for high-speed Internet access services from customers," says Josephine Burdon, business development manager, Hospitality, Cisco Systems Europe, Middle East and Africa.
"But they are rapidly becoming aware that they can also use the infrastructure to save on costs and create significant new revenues."
Jason Deign is a freelance journalist located in Barcelona, Spain.
