• Inadequate availability of high speed internet access (HSIA)
• Insufficient and low quality in-room entertainment options
   

As promised by the hotel operators during the booking process, HSIA was indeed available at the hotel but not where and how we wanted and needed it. The business office, a tiny room with very limited connections, offered HSIA at a prohibitive premium. Wireless was available in the hotel atrium, next to the dance floor area (ear plugs anyone?!), not ideal for conducting business. Occasionally, we could also pick up a wireless signal in the conference rooms and answer e-mails while pretending to be focused on the speakers or workshop leaders. Connections in the guest rooms were not much better: expensive and hardly high speed by any standards. The end result was that most of us returned to our offices to face mountains of e-mails that at least in part, we expected to be able to deal with while at the conference.

The in-room entertainment, or lack thereof, didn’t help either. There were an inadequate number of free-to-guest channels and reception and the picture quality of the older TVs, quite poor. To make matters worse, the pay-per-view choices were expensive and also quite limited, especially for families. This was particularly frustrating for those attendees who brought their children expecting them to be able to watch TV during some of the time their parent was attending the conference. I can tell you first hand that having kids around who cannot watch TV, chat online or even surf the net, is not a pleasant experience. More than one colleague traveling with his family remarked that his kids were sorry they came, despite the luxury of the surroundings.

Inadequate internet connectivity coupled with limited in-room entertainment options were enough to convince this group to switch to a different hotel next year. From the perspective of the hotel, this means a loss of $60,000 (our bill this year) in revenue and potentially more considering lost references and bad publicity.

Today’s guests, whether they are traveling on business or for leisure, expect the technology in the hotel they are staying at to be at least as good as what they are used to at home. In some cases, especially for business travelers, it is imperative that this be the case since it is expected that they be able to continue conducting business while away from the office. With an ever-increasing work demand and the challenges of balancing home and office, making the travel experience as pleasant for the family as it is for the attendee, is critical.

The lesson to be learned from this example is simple and clear: Identifying and meeting the guests’ needs for technology is an essential component of hospitality sound business practices and has a direct impact on revenue. While in general no one would argue against saving on costs, to do so at the expense of essential technology is penny wise and pound foolish and ultimately costs far more in lost revenue opportunities than it saves in expense.