Wireless World

With the rise of wireless technology, hoteliers must look beyond HSIA to improve operations and guest services.

By Derek Gale, Associate Editor -- HOTELS Magazine, 6/1/2005

The Mandarin Oriental New York in the Time Warner Center uses an in-building antenna system by InnerWireless to support all types of wireless communication.

With wireless devices ranging from laptops to BlackBerrys, travelers today are more connected than ever, yet remain free to roam. For hoteliers, that means guests expect to be able to access their e-mail from the lobby or even watch television by the pool (see sidebar). “Hotels and resorts are becoming virtual mini-cities,” commented Jim Bailey, director of hotel technology and services, InterContinental Hotels Group, at a recent WiFi symposium hosted by Atlanta-based StayOnline. “Travelers, whether on business or leisure, are driving the need for every segment of the hospitality industry to adopt and offer wireless capabilities so that seamless communications while they are on the road can be maintained with their home or office networks or the world at large.”

Beyond guest-facing amenities, the prevalence of wireless networks and devices in today’s world also means that hotel employees are functioning in smarter work environments, allowing them to be connected roamers as well, which in turn results in better operations and guest service.

What does that look like? Consider the Mandarin Oriental New York in the Time Warner Center. There, an in-building antenna system installed by InnerWireless, Richardson, Texas, is able to support all types of wireless technology, including wireless building controls, cellular phones, WiFi and two-way radios.

Infrastructure Convergence
The Mandarin Oriental New York uses the system in many ways. For one, key hotel employees with BlackBerrys are part of a rapid response system that runs on the cellular network. When guests check-in, the rapid response system automatically sends their special requests to a staff member, who then can respond quickly with a rollaway bed or bottle of champagne. If a very important guest checks in, for example, a page is automatically sent to the GM, even off site, so he or she can call to welcome the VIP. And thanks to various cellular service carriers being plugged into the distributed antenna system, cell phone service is available throughout the building: in guestrooms high above ground level, where cell service is typically poor if available at all, and even in stairwells.

The St. Regis Fifth Avenue in New York gives guests touch-screen control of everything from climate to lighting and music with INNCOM’s clock-radio sized GDA-700 unit.

“Everyone is talking about convergence,” says David Heckaman, independent consultant and former regional director of technology for Mandarin Oriental, who worked closely with the Time Warner building’s developer and oversaw the installation of the InnerWireless system. “Infrastructure convergence is what I promote. Costs are high for each separate infrastructure pulled through a building.”

The Mandarin Oriental uses the InnerWireless system as a backbone for everything from emergency preparedness to maintenance operations and VoIP, cutting down on separate infrastructures for each communication element. The system truly differentiates the Time Warner building from other hotels, Heckaman says. Its features are especially convenient for a large hotel that occupies such diverse space within a building: back-of-the-house operations a few levels below grade, a ground floor lobby, a main lobby on the 35th floor and the guestroom floors above that.

As for wireless Internet access, “WiFi was not a key driver [of the system] but turned out in the end to be a key piece,” Heckaman says. “The antenna solution is very flexible.” He notes that in a normal distribution of wireless access points, there would need to be antennas every 75 to 100 ft. (23 to 30 m), which would mean 275 to 300 access points to cover the hotel’s space. But with InnerWireless, access points are plugged into the antenna system for even distribution of the signal, allowing just one access point to cover an entire floor. Heckaman explains it best with a gardening metaphor: “An access point is like a hose. A regular hose spews water, and to cover your garden, you have to walk around with the hose. With InnerWireless, it’s more like a soaker hose that covers much more thoroughly and efficiently—and evenly all the time.” And with access points costing up to US$1,000 each, significantly cutting down on the number needed means big savings.

Heckaman adds that the InnerWireless system is even future-proof to a point. He notes that the system will be able to take advantage of innovations affecting building management, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), simply by attaching RFID readers to the antennas. The one caution he gives is that the system is designed for large buildings, so it probably doesn’t make sense for small or medium-sized hotels.

Hotel staff members will receive service requests and confirm completion of tasks via WLAN phones like this as part of Siemens’ new voice over WLAN solution for guest service, which will be available this month.

The Mandarin Oriental Washington, D.C., also uses the InnerWireless system, mostly in the same ways as the New York hotel. “From a pure functional standpoint it’s been a great asset,” says General Manager Darrell Sheaffer. “One of the things I noticed when I moved here was that in many D.C. hotels, cell phone coverage is mediocre at best. People live and die by their cell phones. [Our] system [allows us] to give people coverage they’re looking for.”

Enabling Better Service
Along the same lines as the rapid response component that runs on the Mandarin Oriental New York’s system, Munich, Germany-based Siemens is launching a new voice over WLAN solution this month for hotel guest service. Using the solution, staff members receive service requests by text message on a WLAN phone or PDA and confirm completion of tasks through the same device.

Other examples of wireless technology being utilized to improve hotel operations include wirelessly enabled check-in kiosks. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide, White Plains, New York, is piloting such kiosks in its Sheraton hotels, with the idea that portable kiosks could be taken out to the front drive or into meeting rooms to manage check-ins, according to Brennan Gildersleeve, director of broadband services. Also, the St. Regis Fifth Avenue in New York recently installed Niantic, Connecticut-based INNCOM’s guestroom digital assistant, a product that offers touch-screen control of guestroom climate, drapes, alarm clocks, digital radios and speakerphones through wireless communication with those devices.

“Most of us think about wireless access for HSIA (High Speed Internet Access), but it is so much more,” said Jeff Wacker, a futurist with IT-consulting firm EDS, at the aforementioned WiFi symposium. “If you as the hotel or hospitality industry are not going to play to this, you will miss an opportunity to interact with your customer in a meaningful way.”

“Hotels and resorts need to realize that a robust wireless network can be a differentiator for them because of the applications it will enable,” added Antonio DiMilia, president and CEO of StayOnline. “They must know that their [wireless network] is capable of running mission critical applications, not just wireless HSIA.”

Wireless TV: The Latest Poolside Amenity
Following up on being the first to offer preloaded iPods poolside, Las Ventanas al Paraiso, a Rosewood resort in Los Cabos, Mexico, is now the first to offer wireless poolside TVs. The Sony LocationFree TVs are lightweight broadband devices with headphones that allow guests to privately watch television programs or DVDs, surf the Web, and send and receive e-mails while laying in the sun.

“Our guests are some of the most affluent people in the world, so they have access to the latest in everything,” says Managing Director Luis Fernandes. “We’ve got to be ahead of the game.”

LocationFree TV uses a dual-band wireless connection and high-speed Internet port to transmit data, combining functions that would normally require a television and a PC. The TVs offer touch-screen operation on a 12.1-inch LCD monitor, and an on-screen keyboard appears while users are on the Internet. A special capture feature allows the user to freeze and save what is on the screen.

Guests have been pleased with the offering, according to Fernandes: “With the LocationFree TVs, our guests don’t miss anything important to them, whether that means following the stock market or receiving an urgent e-mail message... Our industry is about an experience—we’ve got to give the guest the experience of seeing something they haven’t seen before and give them the opportunity to go home and buy it.” On that note, Fernandes says, he is constantly researching to see what’s new, what’s in and what’s out.

So what’s next for Las Ventanas? “There’s going to be a lot of Apple-produced technology in the next couple of months,” Fernandes says. “I’m just reading and learning and absorbing and seeing what could be the next strategy to enhance the guest experience.”

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