Hotel @ccess - Your Network in Your Hotel
Whether you are replacing an existing Wifi system or installing a new system, you face a bewildering choice , all promising to be the best since "sliced bread".
It is not all about cost, as the key is that Wifi is now considered by guests as another utility just like water and electricity.
Thus it is expected to be always there and meet the guest performance requirements.
Otherwise the guest will vote with their feet (and probably post a nasty review on Tripadvisor !)
The Six key questions to compare systems should be :-
1. Charging transparency
All guests should be charged the same for the same service.
This may sound obvious but for some outsourced providers such as BT Openzone or The Cloud (now part of Sky) treat their home broadband customers differently.
They will be given access to your hotel Wifi for free, whereas everyone else is charged !
Surely if you want to offer access for free it should be free to all ?
2. Tiering options
There is an increasing move for Wifi to be considered a utility at any hotel like water and electricity and thus "given away" free.
Many hotels however struggle to obtain sufficient bandwidth to allow free access for all applications including streaming services such as BBC iPlayer and Lovefilm. In this case a tiering model is better suited where a limited bandwidth, limited time free connection is offered to all guests for social media and web browsing with the option to upgrade to a paid service offer streaming.
3. Bandwidth Flexibility options
The hotel should be able to dictate the amount of internet bandwidth they want to pay for to provide an acceptable service to the guest.
Enough for Web browsing and email using broadband lines or a leased line for large conference facilities and video streaming.
Remember a leased line costs 10 times as much as a broadband line so a cost benefit analysis is needed to justify the additional bandwidth cost.
All publicity then (including tender responses) should state (in big letters !) that the hotel offers a superior leased line connection to the internet.
BT Openreach is now rolling out Fibre to the Cabinet (FTTC) and Fibre to the Home (FTTH) which projected 50mb speeds for as little as £100 a month. This promises to offer a viable solution - check with your broadband service provider as to availabilty in your area.
4. Diverse customer base
Your chosen provider should be able to demonstrate understanding of requirements in your market segment rather than "We have system installed in a 5 star property in Park Lane, London and they love it".
5. Support
Many IT companies jump into providing hotel Wifi with little or no experience of providing support to hotels when they need it ie evenings and weekends.
When a customer has issues they want them fixed there and then. They will not be back if they have to wait for your IT support company to get back to them in the morning.
6. Hotel understanding
Many suppliers have not "lived and breathed" hotels and thus have limited understanding of the importance of providing a system that enhances the properies reputation and leads to increased bottom line WITHOUT the need to charge for Wifi.
Deploying Hotel @ccess gives you a competitive advantage and meets guests evolving needs with the ability to charge AND not to charge as local market forces dictate.
With Hotel @ccess, a single username and password gives guest access to Wifi/in room wired and public area Wifi access.
We also offer the ability to control access based on MAC address alone so only a "onetime login" is required.
You can also use the this onetime login to capture key guest information including email address to assist your marketing campaigns ie monthly email to previous guests.
If your hotel outsources in room wired and wireless Wifi to a service provider they will influence the guest charges and you will loose the ability to bundle internet access into your room rate ie offer the service "free".
Guest Wifi is just one application on your Wifi network but others such as voice over Wifi portable phones, point of sale terminals, wireless credit card readers can all be rapidly deployed as additional applications on your wireless network.
We offer a popular hybrid charging model where guests can have a limited download (ie 100MB or 30 minutes) voucher for free and then can buy an upgrade voucher if they require more bandwidth.
Many hotels do not manage their bandwidth correctly leading to their internet service provider (ISP) "throttling" their connection as they have exceed the ISP download "fair use" limit because of guests using streaming such as BBC iPlayertm .
Many ISPs have also started capping the bandwidth at say 50GB per broadband line per month and making additional charges on a per GB basis if this limit is exceeded both for uploads and downloads
By recording the MAC address, the unique address of any device that accesses the network, of each user we can also supply details, on request of uk government authorities, of when and where a particular device accessed the system to comply with the latest EU anti terrorist legislation.
We use a unique central ASP server to both validate and monitor all our client systems proactively, leading to industry leading uptime performance.
The central server also facilitates multi site usernames to allow both your guests and internal staff to roam to all your locations that have deployed Hotel @ccess.
Whether hardwired or wifi, the innovative Hotel @ccess guest Internet connectivity is already proving a significant guest enhancement and revenue generator at these 100+ leading venues from 5 star to budget :-
- Holiday Inn London King's Cross/Bloomsbury - covering over 400 rooms
- South Lodge Hotel, Horsham, West Sussex
- The Landmark Hotel London - NOW LIVE using over 150 Wifi access points !!
- Drayton Manor Hotel - Now Open
- Crowne Plaza Heythrop Park
- K-West Hotel, Shepherds Bush, London since 2004
- 17 Mannheim car auctions
- 10 Focus Hotels branded Accor Mercure
- 10 Hoburne Holiday Parks
- 3 Hampton by Hilton Hotels
- 3 Hamilton Hotels Brighton
- 3 B+B Hotels
- 2 Maykenbel properties
- The Sloane Club London including direct to folio billing via Telecom Eye Call Management system
- Arden Hotel Stratford upon Avon
- Abbey Court Hotel, Kensington
- Campanile Hotel, Glasgow Airport
- Chichester Park Hotel
- Park Inn Doncaster
- Park Inn Rotherham
- Careys Manor Hotel, Brockenhurst
- Old Thorns Manor Hotel and Golf Club
- Easyhotel, Heathrow
- European Hotel London
- Conference Aston - NOW LIVE using 50+ access points
- The Sleeperz Hotel Cardiff - including voice over Wifi
- The Sleeperz Hotel Newcastle - coming soon
- Holiday Inn Express Cardiff Airport
- Holiday Inn Express, London - Swiss Cottage
- Holiday Inn Express, Redditch
- Holiday Inn Express, Botley, Southampton
- Holiday Inn Express, London - Golders Green North
- Holiday Inn Express, Oxford
- Holiday Inn Express, Poole
- Holiday Inn Express, Crewe - coming soon
- Holiday Inn Express, Zurich Airport
- Holiday Inn Bristol Airport
- Holiday Inn Bristol City Centre
- Holiday Inn Reading M4, Jct. 10
- Holiday Inn Stevenage - including voice over Wifi
- Holiday Inn Chester West
- Holiday Inn Telford
- International Hotel, Telford
- Izaak Walton Hotel,Ashbourne Derbyshire
- Kings Hotel, Chipping Camden
- Oxford Kasaam Stadium
- Brook Hotel Norwich
- RAF Croughton public areas and accommodation wings
- Hornsbury Mill
- Frogmill Hotel, Cheltenham
- Abbey Hill Hotel, Milton Keynes
- Stanwell Hotel, near T5 Heathrow
- Grove Hotel, Bournemouth
- Greys Hotel, Telford
- Hotel 55
- The Swan Inn
- Ricoh Arena, Coventry including Voice over Wifi portable phones
- Royal Adelaide Hotel, Windsor
- Basil Street Apartments, London
- Royal Naval Club London
- Best Western Parkview Cwmbran - including Voice over Wifi portable phones
- Best Western Ennerdale Country House Hotel
- Black Horse Maidstone
- West Bay Club, Isle of Wight
- Wheatsheaf Inn, Northleach, Gloucestershire
Wired and Wireless can be mixed and matched to meet all your guest room, function room and public area requirements.
For more details contact your TMB Systems account manager or call us on 0800 091 0232