Where is the point in Wireless

As with all businesses the travel industry is fiercely competitive, and the hotel business is no exception. Choosing which hotel to stay at can be a daunting and confusing task, there is the price, location, services, add ons, promotions, quality, and other factors all to consider. 

This is one reason why hotels love gimmicks, and as soon as one property has made the move and introduced a new service, which may attract customers from one hotel to another, you can be sure that most other hotels of a similar status will follow suit and also add that service.

Such gimmicks, include things such as Frequent Flyer points, membership programmes, separate showers, numerous telephone lines, mobile telephones, executive floors, complimentary services, tea and coffee making facilities and the list goes on and on. 

Now in 2003 the latest craze is wireless connectivity. The ability for guests to connect to the internet from anywhere whether they are sat at the bar, relaxing in the lounge or waiting in the lobby, no matter where you go, the hotel wants you to be able to stay connected.

Some gimmicks do not always work as hotels expect, take in room broadband access as an example. A mad craze swept the industry as hotels rushed to install broadband connections in their rooms, only for many hotels to later discover that only roughly 10% of guests use the service. Why? One reason is perhaps the fact that frequent travellers going from one city and / or country to another quickly learn that each hotel/city/country uses a different system requiring them to often reconfigure their computers to use each system.

Will wireless connectivity go the same way ? Only time will tell, but one thing is for sure and that is it needs to be thought through properly. We have spoken with hotels who are even considering ensuring that the beach is wireless, even though the mixture of water and sand is probably any laptops worst enemy.

Wirelesss connectivity is not of course limited to laptop users, the latest mobile communication devices can also be plugged into these wireless systems, and these users will most probably gain the largest benefit from being able to connect from anywhere, for one simple reason - Power.

Hotels will often tell you about all the wonders of their new wireless system, but when you ask about where users, especially laptop users, will get their power from, many hotels draw a blank. The average laptop user will only get 1 - 2 hours from their computer battery, and so for many having a power source would add a great deal of weight to the ability of using the laptop anywhere in the hotel. Hidden power sockets in the floor, in the walls etc, all would help users connect, especially in the main areas such as the lobby, restaurants and bars, and the access to power would enable users to benefit from the wireless connection for longer without worrying of whether there is enough power to do x, y and z.

Not every hotel has overlooked the power issue, the InterContinental Hong Kong for example, in its amazing new Executive floor lounge has, if you manage to make it past the complimentary Dom Perignon, installed well concealed power points around most of the seats.

The number of hotels, even properties which are still under construction or just about to open that seem to have overlooked the question of power seems to be in the majority, and without power, we see little point in going wireless.