Hospitality Wi-Fi case study: Copper Mountain ski resort
With a compound annual growth rate of more than 20%, according to Markets and Markets, the Wi-Fi technology market is forecast to be worth more than $30 billion by 2020, with adoption in the retail and hospitality markets, among other verticals, driving demand. Specific to hospitality, Wi-Fi has transitioned from being an amenity to a service guests, particularly business travelers, demand.
This trend is being highlighted this week in New York City at the ongoing HX 2016: The Hotel Experience trade show. Samsung, for example, used the conference to launch its new 802.11ac access point, which is marketed to hotels and other multitenant building owners, as well as for use in hospital rooms. The systems is designed to simplify cabling via compatibility with existing Category 5 and 6 Ethernet cables, as well as gigabit cables. APs are optimally placed in individual guest rooms to maximize signal quality.
“Wi-Fi quality has become a deciding factor in the guest’s perception of the superiority of a hotel. Samsung developed a solution that reimagines what you should be able to do with Wi-Fi to deliver the level of connectivity that guests desire,” said John D’Annunzio, GM of Samsung Wireless Enterprise. “With Samsung’s Wi-Fi solutions – beginning with implementing the Wi-Fi infrastructure through connecting all electronics and mobile devices – hoteliers can achieve greater guest loyalty and satisfaction.”
Another company in the hospitality Wi-Fi market is Ruckus Wireless, which makes the claim that 83% of hotel guests will report bad Wi-Fi service and 36% won’t come back due to bad Wi-Fi.
At the Copper Mountain ski resort in Colorado, which hosts more than 1 million skiers every year, Ruckus said it worked with property managers on a public Wi-Fi solution to cover 38 individual condos. “Our biggest requirements for a guest access Wi-Fi solution are stability and user experience,” said Michael Hurwitch, director of IT for Copper Resorts. “The end user experience needs to be positive, we cannot have a solution that causes end users more frustration than it’s worth.”
For the venue’s indoor areas, Ruckus ZoneFlex R300 and R500 APs were mounted throughout. Outdoor areas are covered by ZoneFlex T300 APs, which are hardened for outdoor and adverse weather conditions. The system is managed with Ruckus’s network functions virtualization-based controller solution.
