Hotel & Motel Management - September 3, 2007 - (Page 20)

20 Technology WIRELESS H&MM September 3, 2007 | HotelMotel.com www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition BY BRIAN ALBRIGHT, CONTRIBUTING EDITOR STARWOOD HOTELS & RESORTS WORLDWIDE Cutting the wires Hotel guests have beneﬁted from the hospitality industry’s embrace of wireless local area network technology through mobile access to Internet services in public areas and in their rooms. Many hotels and resorts now are capitalizing on their Many hotels, such as the Sheraton Buenos Aires Hotel & Convention Center, have wireless infrastructures to develop administrative long provided wireless Internet access to guests. Now, hoteliers hope to leverage their applications that can improve customer service existing networks to improve employee efﬁciency and customer service. and efﬁciency. Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide has deployed several applications at its properties. when it deployed a curbside check-in system several years ago. Servers in the pool areas of some locations are The solution used technology from Lansa, Agilysys and Symbol able to take drink and food orders using a mobile point-of-sale system; at other properties, wireless kiosks provide self-check-in Technologies, and was designed to cut congestion at the front desk. services for guests. Starwood is using technology from Colubris That system has been temporarily placed on hiatus while Networks to help manage many of these deployments. And more applications are in the works. Opryland upgrades. The installation will include more than 1,000 wireless access points across the 150-acre complex. Information “We’re looking at a couple of brands of Wi-Fi-based phones to reduce the cost of maintaining Nextel-type devices for all of technology director Kevin Culp said the network will provide Internet access, curbside check-in, two-way communication the back-of-the-house staff,” said Russ Johnson, Starwood’s for employees, wireless point of sale, and location-tracking senior manager, property technology. capabilities that will help improve employee dispatch efﬁciency, The Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center in and assist guests with directions throughout the resort. Nashville was on the leading edge of wireless guest services tech TALK Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group renewed its agreement with Travelport’s Trust International for Voyager central reservation system and call center services. Hersha Hospitality Management chose ERC Dataplus to provide an online guest satisfaction survey for its unbranded boutique hotels. Hersha already used the company’s Selectech Workforce Management and ARGOS 360 feedback system. ExaDigm, a provider of wired and wireless pointof-sale terminal systems, will deploy the XD1000 Countertop Payment Solution at Best Western International properties for card-based transactions, including the Best Western Travel Card. Cambria Suites, a brand of Choice Hotels International, selected EthoStream LLC, a Telkonet company, to provide broadband Internet access. The company will provide every guestroom with wired and wireless Internet access, wireless access in public areas and customer support. Omni Hotels installed Autonomy Corp.’s etalk Qﬁniti Observe call and desktop recording and Qﬁniti Advise evaluation software. Since deployment, Omni’s internal customer satisfaction tracking scores measured at a four-year high. Network tips Consider extending the the wireless network to areas like stairwells, stock rooms and elevators for administrative applications. Look for a system that will physically separate the guest and administrative interfaces. Deploy wireless LAN technology based on industry standards like the IEEE 802.11 speciﬁcations. Make sure the system meets payment card industry data security standards. Use robust network security protocols like Wi-Fi Protected Access or WPA2 encryption. Perform regular security audits to detect “leaks” and rogue access points. Source: Russ Johnson, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide; Kevin Culp, Opryland Resort, Hotel and Convention Center; The Wi-Fi Alliance One infrastructure, two networks network infrastructure to avoid interference. At Gaylord’s Opryland Resort & Convention Center [shown at left], information technology director Kevin Culp and his team are evaluating two different wireless LAN vendors for their upcoming network upgrade. “There are two methods to keeping the network separated,” Culp said. “One is to use a virtual LAN. The other is what’s called packet-level inspection.” GAYLORD OPRYLAND RESORT One important aspect of using the wireless network for guest services and administrative access is to seperate the networks. “Several years ago, the thought Culp process was to keep GAYLORD the guest wireless infrastructure separate, and then build the administrative infrastructure right next to it,” says Russ Johnson, senior manager, property technology, at Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide. “Now we’re pursuing one infrastructure.” Starwood is looking at controller-based Wi-Fi systems that can keep guest and administrative access on separate virtual local area networks, but using the same wireless access points. Not only does the wireless LAN controller segregate the networks, it can also help mitigate interference issues by dynamically switching the channels used by the For more info Company Circle No. 3Com. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380 Agilysys . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 381 Colubris Networks . . . . . . . . 382 Lansa. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 383 Micros Systems . . . . . . . . . . 384 MobileAccess Networks . . . . 385 Symbol Technologies/ Motorola. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 386 ERC Dataplus, a provider of recruiting software, announced The North Central Group of Madison, Wis. chose the Selectech Workforce Management System to support its recruiting process. Compiled by Stacey Higgins, shiggins@questex.com http://HotelMotel.com http://www.HotelMotel.com/digital_edition

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Hotel & Motel Management - September 3, 2007

Cover Contents Convention Centers Add Bells and Whistles Questex Media acquires Five Star Alliance Perspective At Your Risk Energy Star Update Sales Clinic Transactions Awards Trends & Stats Wireless Networking Northwest Pipeline Coffee Services Ad/Editorial Index Marketplace Classifieds Checking Out

Hotel & Motel Management - September 3, 2007

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