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Improved Wi-Fi and saving £70K for a Best Western hotel
1. BackgroundMichels & Taylor is a leading independent hotel management organisation that manages or advises more than 100 hotels around the world for owners, investors and banks. When they took on the Best Western hotel in Stoke, Staffordshire, they knew they urgently needed to update the guest Wi-Fi. The Best Western hotel had received a high number of complaints from guests and needed to improve both the reliability and speed of its Wi-Fi, with a small budget. Hotel guests expect decent Wi-Fi these days, and some base their choice of hotel on this, so it was essential that we addressed this issue. 2. The solutionCardonet provide IT Support and Solutions to hotels around the UK and have been Michels & Taylor’s IT partners for many years. Mindful of the budget, we suggested that Michels & Taylor adopt a phased approach, installing a small-scale solution and adding to it as needed. As a starting point, the hotel’s existing outdated wireless access points would need to be replaced. A subsequent site survey would identify any gaps in coverage, which could then be filled with additional access points as needed. Cardonet has worked with SonicWall for years, we know and trust their solutions so we recommended their SonicPoints because they would integrate seamlessly into the hotel’s existing infrastructure, reducing installation costs. Secondly, they would simplify management and improve the effectiveness of the hotel’s security solution — reducing management costs.
3. The ResultsThe improvements to the Best Western hotel’s Wi-Fi have been significant. The hotel had grown in size over the years, with extensions and additional buildings, and the Wi-Fi service had not been upgraded accordingly which meant that previously a number of areas had no Wi-Fi coverage. Now, the entire footprint of the hotel receives a good Wi-Fi signal, including the outdoor balcony areas. The Wi-Fi speed has also improved with SonicPoints, from 5MB to 100MB. Most important is the impact of the Wi-Fi improvements on the hotel’s guests. The Best Western previously received around 15 complaints per week about the poor quality of its Wi-Fi. Since SonicPoints were installed, complaints have reduced significantly. The Best Western hotel in Stoke also realised significant costs savings by choosing this solution over the alternatives. The new Wi-Fi access points saved us £70K, ensuring our overhead costs were minimal. Without SonicPoints, we would not have been able to make the necessary improvements to the service we offer our hotel guests. SonicPoints keep our overheads down and customer satisfaction high, which can only help to boost our bottom line. With SonicPoint N2 wireless access points, the hotel can now provide fast and reliable Wi-Fi to all of its guests. This change has dramatically reduced the number of customer complaints relating to Wi-Fi, which helps preserve bookings and leads to a better customer experience.
4. Benefits
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