Paris, March 2001- High-speed Internet access
will be the �next essential guestroom amenity,� and to make it happen,
�tomorrow�s hotels will feature broadband connectivity as much as anything
else,� predicted Larry Birenbaum, VP Ethernet Access Group, Cisco Systems,
keynoting the recent European Hospitality Technology Conference, EURHOTEC
2001, (19-21 February) in
Paris.
Business travellers are increasingly dependent
on Internet-based resources while on the road. Already, 75% of business
travellers use laptops all the time, he said, and over 62% access the Internet
from hotel with an average log-on time of 30 minutes. Total Internet users
worldwide are anticipated to reach 1.17 billion by 2005, up from 407 million
in 2000.
Increasingly, travellers expect more than just
an e-mail connection, said Birenbaum. Many would like access to corporate
intranets while on the road but find the data too heavy to download over
a telephone line � the most widespread form of Internet connection currently
used. Broadband access solves the problems associated with data transmission
over the phone � except one: if the corporate intranet is security-protected,
the traveller will resort to Virtual Private Networking (VPN) to get through
the firewall.
| Broadband�s
applications extend well beyond guest communications. From the service
point of view, it can be used for video-on-demand connectivity, virtual
concierge services, inter-active gaming, and IP telephony. It can also
enhance the services available at the hotel�s meetings facility in areas
such as training, video-conferencing, webcasting, and wireless technology.
And it can power-up back-office capabilities such as roving check-in/out,
mobile staff communications, supply chain |
EURHOTEC 2001
Attracts 1,850 Visitors
The sixth edition of EURHOTEC, the European Hospitality
Technology Exhibition & Conference, held at the Palais de Congrès
in Paris from 19-21 February 2001, attracted 1,850 visitors from 54 countries
and 81 exhibitors on 1000m2 of floor-space. Held annually since 1996 by
the Paris-based International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IH&RA),
the event � hosted in the French capital for the first time � attracted
a record turn-out with visitor levels rising by more than 50% on previous
years. |
|
management (extranet), and web-based training.
�Broadband is more than just incremental revenue
� it�s strategic,� he insisted. �It will be ubiquitous � as important as
the telephone.�
In a subsequent session entitled, �In-Room Internet
Access: Necessity Or Hype?� telecom consultant Derek Wood, and Kirsten
Limbacher, Senior Manager Hotel Communications EMEA, Bass Hotels &
Resorts, advised hoteliers not to add on high-speed Internet access as
a service isolation - �It should be a strategic decision to put the cabling
in,� they agreed. Hoteliers contemplating this in the guestroom have this
advice from Limbacher:
-
Ask the customers what they want � both now
and in the future � then estimate how your property can best meet that
need.
-
Remember, customer demand for very new technology
is very small � and therefore so is the profit opportunity
-
If you do decide to invest in the technology, look
at the vendor�s reputation. Have they worked with hotels before, do they
provide training and support, Will they share the cost of advertising?
-
Estimate the payback time on the investment.
-
Ensure contracts with vendors will accommodate future
changes in customer tastes.
-
Make sure front desk and meetings facility vendors
know how to sell the benefits of the new technology to potential guests.
-
Data transmission requires new charging patterns
� establish a value proposition.
-
Monitor the impact of Internet on the hotel�s telephone
margins � protect revenue.
Above all, she emphasized, any new technology must
be user-friendly. �It doesn�t matter why the guest can�t make the technology
work � it will reflect badly on the hotel.� |
