The Bandwidth Revolution

My article talked about all of the issues with Bandwidth moderation and costs in hotels especially business centered hotels. It discussed that free high speed internet is the #1 deciding factor for business travelers when choosing a hotel. More and more people are using up the bandwidth everyday whether to check email, print a boarding pass, or do their much needed business. Hotels are now starting to find ways to manage how much bandwidth each guest is able to consume. With technologies such as a Slingbox, one guest is able to use the majority of the hotels bandwidth by themselves solely. One technology that is taking the place of adding more data T1's is a link load balancer that allows other circuits to be used to lower the cost and to increase the amount of bandwidth. This technology also deals with when a circuit may go down. It says that if your primary circuit goes down at 6pm the link load balancer allows the other circuits to kick in and allow the guest to continue without any down time. Another factor the article discusses is whether or not to have free internet and unlimited bandwidth. An idea presented is to allow a certain amount of bandwidth for each guest for free and if they need an incredible amount or would be using a technology like a Slingbox they must pay an extra fee. Hotels need to begin to control their bandwidth or they are going to lose an enormous amount of revenues either from guests using too much bandwidth, people changing hotels for their lack of internet or by people simply choosing other hotels that have free access.

I completely understand that this is a huge issue in hotels today. I am working on the Marriott Project with Cihan and my questions deals with technology and entertainment in the guest rooms. We as a group have been looking into ways to control the amount of Bandwidth because Marriott expressed to us that this is a problem they are having. The idea of the link load balancer is great! The fact that there is the security if the primary circuit shuts off is ideal. This is a concern in all hotels because most front desk agents and employees of the hotel do not know how to fix the technology issues and the link load balancer would be able to fix the problem for them. As a guest in a hotel I feel that high speed internet access should be offered somewhere in the hotel for free. If I need to check my email or do something short on the computer I do not want to have to deal with slow access because other people are using most of the bandwidth. With hotels such as the Courtyard By Marriott, a hotel designed specifically for business travelers, bandwidth issues are extremely prevalent. Each businessman can have his laptop, his blackberry, his Slingbox, and other things that take up bandwidth because he is working and living from that hotel room. Also I agree with what the author is saying about the revenues. If you provide an extra, free high speed internet, you will increase your revenues. As the article states a business traveler looks for a hotel with free internet and they will not look at your hotel without in this day and age.

See-And Touch-The Future

My article was named “See-and Touch-The Future” and was all about personalizing the experience for each guest. Right now, and even more in the future, people work from many office spaces. Not just in their office in the building but at home, in the car, from a hotel room or even from a restaurant on a business lunch. They need and want to be able to streamline all of these spaces together. And that is where my article came in. It discussed how the traveler needs to be as comfortable in the room as they are at home. They need to be able to use their personal computers, iPods, PDAs, etc as easily in a hotel room as they would in their own homes. Microsoft is developing technologies that easily allow this to happen in things such as Microsoft Home. The article goes on to say that personalizing any experience with the guest will increase loyalty to your company. Ideas they talked about were that each guest would have their room personalized to their likes and wants. If they like the room warmer the thermostat would be turned up, if they would like their family photos to be displayed on the TV while it is not in use the hotel would have their playing before the guest got in the room. The industry is truly trying to create the feeling of home even more now-a-days. Each hotel wants their guests to feel as comfortable as possible and truly feel at home.

I really believe this is a good idea. Personalizing an experience to a guest is one of the first things I learned here in HRIM. If you call someone by their name or remember they always order the omelet with sausage and cheese, you will receive a higher tip and most likely your customer’s loyalty. The goal is to have the guest feel as if the whole staff is there to take care of them. And with this personalization technology as to setting the room temperature, even changing the walls & décor per each person’s likes, will truly allow each guest to feel as if the hotel is there for them. Also in the article they discussed how the technology of face recognition, retinal scans, and fingerprint scanners are beginning to be used more often for secure access. I believe this is a great idea. The guests will feel much safer and much more comfortable in the hotel. With the violence that is a part of our world more security is definitely needed. With all of the technologies that are talked about I really don’t see what could be wrong with installing them besides the price issue. No guest is going to want to have their room designed for them; they will not be against extra security as long as it doesn’t affect their stay. The issue of price is something that definitely needs to be considered. If all of their technologies are added would the rooms with the specifications be more expensive? And if yes do the properties have to offer two sets of rooms? Technology is a difficult decision and, I believe, hard to implement when on the hotel side. You as a manager would have to observe your clientele and see if they would be willing to pay the extra money for the room with the technology. I believe most would. I know that if I was traveling often for business and I was offered a room catered to me and with my family’s photos displayed, I would gladly pay a slightly higher rate.