The award-winning Sarovar Hotels guest WI-FI implementation project. BY TEAM HOTELIER INDIA
A robust guest wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system is need of hour. Today’s travellers prerequisite is a very good secured wireless connectivity backed by High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) of adequate internet bandwidth, which should always perform seamlessly without any human intervention. Without good WI-FI, today’s guests won’t prefer to stay as they always want to be connected – both to their families and business associates. The IT team at Sarovar noticed an increase in guest complaints related to poor wireless connectivity and internet speed after the spurge of wireless gadgets.
To tackle this, the IT department under the leadership of Harish Chandra GM, IT, Sarovar Hotels & Resorts took up the guest WI-FI implementation project. The aim was to provide consistent wireless experience to the guests across all Sarovar Hotels in tier-I,II and III cities and in remote locations like Portblair, Badrinath Siliguri, Gangtok, etc. where getting good speed internet bandwidth from an ISP and an experienced wireless system integrator is an issue. It was challenge to standardise guest WI-FI infrastructure across all 70 existing hotels across India and Africa. It was a challenge to convince hotel owners to invest in revamping the wireless infrastructure.
The comparative data for the past three years using google drive formsquestionnaire was analysed for inputs on: down time of the wireless systems; number of guest complaints on WI-FI system; etc.
The findings were collated, solutions found and implemented as part of the Sarovar guest internet policy which clearly defines how to enhance guest experience while making money through Wi-Fi.
The impact resulted in the Sarovar Digital and IT team winning the Dataquest Business Technology Awards in two categories:
1. Data Center / Networking / Wireless
2. Social Media
The Dataquest Business Technology Awards honours the organizations that have carved a special technological niche for themselves by creating business value through innovative use of IT.
