MANILA, Philippines - November 27, 2003 - The Bellevue Manila Hotel, the first full-service business hotel in Filinvest Corporate City, Alabang, has deployed Cisco Systems® networking solutions to provide its guests with high-speed Internet connections in all 222 guest rooms in the hotel.
The ability to provide high-speed Internet access will further enhance the reputation of the Bellevue as the corporate hotel of choice in the competitive hospitality industry in Manila. The solution includes Cisco® Catalyst® 2900 Series switches, Cisco Building Broadband Service Manager (BBSM) and Cisco 1700 Series routers.
"The Bellevue Manila is a relatively young hotel but we have already established a reputation for service excellence. Discerning business travelers today have come to expect high-speed Internet access as part of the offerings of top-notch hotels. Cisco's BBSM solution provides us with a very powerful tool to manage the Internet access in our guest rooms," says Daniel Carreon, MIS manager for The Bellevue Manila.
The Cisco BBSM Version 5.2 is a highly automated service-creation platform that enables easy, plug-and-play guest and meeting room access; end-user self-provisioning of services; customizable portal and advertising platforms; and Web-based management, reporting and configuration. With the Cisco BBSM, the Bellevue can provide its own services, which reduces support requirements because the system essentially combines network access control and management functions that would normally be contained on multiple servers into one management device.
As such, the Cisco BBSM platform enables the Bellevue to create tiered service levels in order to deliver targeted customer offerings. To illustrate, the hotel can set up daily network access for a series of meetings providing a variety of bandwidth and pricing options, and voice and video capabilities. To its guests, primarily IT-dependent business travelers, the convenience of anytime, anywhere connectivity, customized according to their demands, greatly increases workplace efficiency even when they're miles away from their physical offices.
Moreover, Carreon also cited that apart from the benefits Cisco BBSM provides to the hotel's guests, its ease of use and convenience has also made the task of managing the system's operations a lot easier for the Bellevue's IT and MIS department.
"With Cisco BBSM, configuration of the guests' computers is no longer necessary," Carreon added. "All the guest needs to do is simply attach the network cable to the computer and open a Web browser. Once the user accepts the terms of the authentication or verification page, he or she gains instant access to the Internet." Carreon also said that Cisco BBSM generates reports such as a transaction history, which indicates the date, and time the guest logs in and logs out as well as duration of usage. The system also keeps track of active ports, allowing the hotel to monitor the number of online users at any time.
"The Bellevue Manila is showing what Internet technology can do for your business. The vision of the management to use leading-edge technology to enhance the competitiveness of the hotel is a good lesson for all businesses. They have thus joined the ranks of a small but growing group of world-class hotels around the world that provide full-service Internet access to their guests," said Luichi Robles, country manager, Cisco Systems Philippines.
