For many years, direct network connections were considered the {{ideal,best,most effective}} service to hotel guests but this has changed as High-Speed Internet Access (HSIA) is becoming a {{standard,expected,typical}} amenity rather than a direct cable connection into the network. But as Wireless Networking is becoming more common, a device called a Wireless Access Point is becoming the standard network communication device enabling HSIA for guests.
I met with the General Manager of a Holiday Inn in Northern Virginia. She manages a 200-unit building in Arlington, Virginia, an affluent suburb of Washington, DC. Her property provides rooms and facilities to handle meetings and conferences for vacationers and business travelers. She told me that she is trying to get wireless access installed into her building because she is losing business and wasting money.
She said that her hotel is providing free Internet access but her competition is providing free wireless access. Clients and management prefer wireless because it is much easier to manage and access. Clients don't like having to plug in a cable and having to make changes to their network settings to enable network access. Management does not like having to deal with multiple failure points in managing the hundreds of routers spread throughout the building. There is one in each room.
So, they have a lot of complaints about Internet access. It is not convenient. Sometimes clients don't even have a patch cable. So, the problems are overwhelming for both sides. Additionally, they have Meeting and Conference Rooms that are not hard-wired. So, every time they schedule a Conference for a business client they also have to pay their Internet Service Provider (ISP) to extend a bundle of network cables into the Meeting and Conference Rooms. As you can imagine, this is a hassle and a large financial expense. It cuts into their profit margins. And it is also a major inconvenience for both the staff and the customers.
We have presented a proposal to install network cabling and I expect to get approval in the coming weeks. It will save them time, money and reduce their efforts in providing reliable and fast Internet to their clients. I will update this posting as things progress.
The network cabling team at Progressive Office, Inc. headed by Richard Elbe successfully completed the network cabling at the Residence Inn on Capitol Hill in Washington, DC. Residence Inn General Manager Patrick McManus says, "The job had challenges but alof our expectations and goals were reached or exceeded."
The job involved installation of Cat5 cable to all of the odd floors of the 13 story property. Each floor has access panels installed that safely host surface-mounted wall jacks inside of the ceiling on each floor. Riser cables were minimized by consolidating cables to patch panels on every fourth floor. The system now provides Innflux with the infrastructure to enable wireless access throughout the property including the Meeting and Conference Rooms.
The job was completed on budget and on-time with no extra charges or cost overruns. Progressive Office specializes in hotel cabling to enable wireless access services to guests. Please call Stu at 202-462-4290 or click on the icon to submit a response to a Questionnaire that will enable us to provide a quote for your hotel.