London - (July 15, 2009) – iBAHN, the worldwide leader in digital entertainment and Internet solutions for the hospitality and meeting industries, today highlights key feedback from its European forum roadshow, which took place across Europe in June, visiting Paris, Madrid, Frankfurt and London – (
http://www.ibahnemea.com/events09/).
The iBAHN forums were developed to lead the debate with hoteliers on the future direction of digital information and in-room entertainment services, how this impacts revenue and guest satisfaction and how hoteliers can engage with their guests to satisfy increasing technology demands.
During the open debate section of the events, a number of themes were repeated across the territories. The most popular of these included questions such as; ‘how will hotel data lines cope with the increasing bandwidth demands?’, and one of the most hotly debated topics, ‘should Internet access be given away for free?’
iBAHN believes that increasing demands on data lines will become one of the biggest issues that hotels face in servicing guest demand for Internet access. iBAHN’s own network now carries 6 petabytes of traffic in comparison to only 1.8 petabytes in 2007, which demonstrates the growth in traffic and usage. New technology that allows several data lines to be bonded together can assist hotels, by offering a cost-effective but temporary solution. However, the key in the long term is to invest in a managed network capable of prioritising traffic, with monitored bandwidth consumption, which resolves issues quickly and effectively.
As for the much-debated question of ‘should Internet access be free?’ the answer is inextricably linked to the size of the hotel’s data line, as well as the range of features provided on the network such as security, VPN compatibility and support, all of which are highly valued by business travellers. In essence, hotels that have been unwilling to invest in their infrastructure, but offer free access, usually provide a reduced customer experience as heavy usage over a low bandwidth data line results in poor levels of connectivity. A pricing structure geared to application usage and data consumption is the most sensible way of funding higher quality access. In contrast, where hotels have invested in high capacity data lines, free Internet access is a service that can be offered to guests with reduced side effects on the network.
For further information or to discuss these points further please visit
www.ibahnemea.com iBAHN’s MD EMEA Graeme Powell, comments: “The iBAHN Forums gave us the chance to have an open dialogue with our customers about the issues they are facing in relation to digital entertainment and internet solutions. We received a great response, and heard first hand from hoteliers who are facing a huge surge in demand for services that many of their guests already experience at home and now expect in their hotel. This demand combined with our explanation of the real opportunity to build new revenue streams has helped hoteliers to fully appreciate that the right technology provision is critical to future success.”
