THE PROBLEM
Very prestigious and premium hotel based in the New Forest in Hampshire approached us as they started receiving complaints from customers in certain areas of the hotel who were struggling with internet connectivity. With Wifi connectivity now being a highly demanded requirement of hotel guests (especially business guests) this was a problem that the hotel owner wanted to solve, and fast! Alphascan visited the site immediately and carried out an audit.
THE ANALYSIS
Once the initial site survey had been completed it was discovered that the hotel had a mixture of wireless networks in place, one of which was starting to fail. Whilst on site it was also noted that the server cabinet and cabling could benefit from being relocated and re-cabled as well as implementing a new EPoS system that would help enable the hotel to take contactless payments.
THE SOLUTION
It was decided that the most sensible course of action would be to install a fully managed system with multiple long range Ubiquiti access points throughout the hotel, utilising the highest grade lines available to ensure sufficient bandwidth could accommodate heavy usage by the guests, not just in their rooms but in the gym, lobby and outside gardens.
A new web-based EPoS backend server and network was set up on its own VLAN to ensure it had a dedicated and secure workspace. A new Netgear switch was installed and the current till points were re-patched to it.
The vast majority of this work was actually undertaken off-site at Alphascans offices and once configured and tested we could move it straight in at the hotel and install. The hotel itself had some very important functions booked so certainly didn’t want engineers on site with ladders etc in the middle of a wedding reception. Health and Safety issues alone would be a big enough problem.
THE RESULTS
Utilising the many long range Wi-Fi access points, the hotel guests could now access the internet anywhere within the hotels grounds without losing connection. A captive portal (or splash page) was created so that the guests could be authenticated prior to internet access being granted, giving that extra piece of security to the setup of the network.
The hotels ratings on Trip Advisor and Booking.com com went up and the hotel owner believes the improved Wifi was a major reason why.
The hotel is now a fully managed IT support and hosted telephony customer of Alphascans.