I know it seems like we are beating a dead horse but Internet has taken such a leap forward in guest satisfaction that it’s almost something we should be discussing on a daily basis at the hotel level. Franchises are even stepping out and driving change. Hilton has forced hotels to spend tens of thousands of dollars with AT&T for new networks while both it and Marriott have released new standards pushing hotels to upgrade the bandwidth. The only problem, even the new stand...

Businesses have been transitioning to IP phone systems for the last 10 years. In our office we have used an IP phone system since we opened our doors in 2002. The problem in bringing IP Telephony to hotels has been the complexity of all the integrations (PMS, POS, etc.) that need to function on site. Business IP phone providers were not interested in a more complex environment and the traditional phone system providers made money off hard...

Free to guest video has a history of being a moving target of perfection. If you have the right channel lineup it’s too expensive, if you save money, you don’t have the right channels. Finding that balance was always difficult. DirecTV is introducing the “home experience” which may change everything from technology to decision making moving forward. Under the new plan DirecTV will not require Pro:Idiom.  Instead they will use a small set top box that can go behind the TV are b...

Eruption is probably the wrong word because technically it means something short term.   In this case, bandwidth isn’t a short term spike, it’s a long term issue with substantial sustained growth.   So much growth, your networks are feeling and will continue to feel the significant impact. Why so many newsletters about bandwidth?   It’s an issue that won’t go away.   As a technology consulting company our number one complaint to r...

By Guest Blogger Jeff Parker, vice president of information technology, Magnolia Hotels I am thinking of changing my name, something elusive, mysterious, and misunderstood. In short, I want to be buzz-word compliant. In looking at many of the hottest technologies out there, it seems to me that they are more about marketing and re-branding then actual new technologies. Cloud computing is the hottest buzz-word of them all, but I was sitting in front of a Wise g...

It seems nearly impossible to believe, but the laptop is on pace to become the next dinosaur. How does that affect you? We all currently wrestle with expensive (and long term) free-to-guest TV agreements, aging pay-per-view agreements, guest networks, bandwidth, and on and on.  The hassle, the pain, and the guest complaints even when it works can cause even the best hotels to suffer.  With 4G in full swing, the continuing consolidation of an all-in-one device is in full swing, which will free u...

No ROI, increased monthly cost, ongoing capital expense, do you really need HD? Guestrooms are being designed to make a guest feel at home so with this comes HDTV. HD certainly fits into the equation of providing an at home experience since guests still focus in on live news, sports, and local channels as viewing priorities. However, the argument can be made that HD is not a necessity but instead a wow factor in the room. Of the seven industry professionals we asked, all seven stated inde...

Clearwire Corp., a leader in the WiMAX (aka 4G, LTE, etc.), announced it is cutting 15 percent of its workforce and reducing its current 4G markets while suspending rollouts in new markets such as Denver and Miami. Money issues are to blame and cash flow is tight so this wireless data leader had to pull in the reigns to try and survive.  It’s not surprising to hear a company is trying to survive, but it is surprising that in a world consumed with getting more and more bandwid...

Hosted PBX systems (true Voice Over IP–VOIP) have been around for many years. In the business world companies like Warner Consulting Group have been using them since early 2000. Hosted gives the business a lower cost to entry and more flexibility in troubleshooting, product, and control of the system. Hotels were not able to adapt as many companies were not prepared for PMS or POS interfaces, call accounting, and a few other hospitality specific products. As with any technology, things ar...

It’s been more than 10 years now that we’ve had to deal with guest networks in our properties. Not quite an anniversary celebration but instead an unenvied evolution of meeting guest expectations.  Ownership felt guest networks were a one-time investment that supplied a guest service. What we have found out, some the hard way, is that we must constantly budget for upgrades and changes to our network.  Guest satisfaction scores rely heavily on the network (and bandwidth) ...

While carriers have continued to market new services aggressively they have quietly scaled back their behind the scenes support.  Less people and less knowledge equal less expense which allows them to survive. The result has been much longer drawn out troubleshooting and billing issues that take extended billing periods to resolve. Contracts don’t allow hotels to properly recoup the lost revenue or labor involved to make things right. The only tool a hotel can use is redundancy.  Data r...