by Paul Paolisso
In the hospitality industry, the days of free HBO and room service marking a top quality hotel are long gone. Contemporary travelers bring with them a plethora of mobile devices with high data and connectivity needs, in part because many hotel guests also bring or stream their own content. For many travelers, the most desirable hotels are now the properties that offer fast, free Wi-Fi and strong wireless service with the bandwidth capable of supporting multiple connected devices.
“Fiber to the room” solutions can help hoteliers ensure their property fits into that “desirable” category, or, perhaps more importantly, to stay out of the "undesirable" category and avoid user complaints on online hotel aggregation sites, which guests browse for property reviews. With fiber to the room, fiber-optic cables are deployed throughout a property's entire communication infrastructure—from the room that houses the hotel's communication equipment, up through the vertical risers in the building, out of the telecom closets, and into each guest room.
There are many benefits to fiber to the room. First, it eliminates traditional copper cabling, along with its associated maintenance costs and connectivity limits. It also provides higher bandwidth at lower costs, and potential space savings resulting from a reduced need for closets to hold expensive and breakable equipment. Fiber to the room gives hoteliers a competitive advantage over other properties, and it allows hotel owners to deliver a better overall wireless experience to their guests.
It is simply a matter of time before fiber to the room becomes standard operating procedure for new property construction within the industry. Those looking to get a head start and make the move today should consider four things.
How does fiber benefit hotel guests?
Fiber connectivity will provide the high-speed, always-on connection today’s guests have come to expect, keeping them satisfied. Satisfaction leads to loyal guests who will be more likely to turn to the same brand when booking their next stay away from home.
Fiber to the room allows properties to better serve these guests today while becoming future ready by putting in an infrastructure that is primed for expansion in bandwidth and technology as the need arises. Extra fiber can be stored in data closets, if need be, should property owners wish to add Distributed Antenna Services for cellular coverage or other technology as it is needed or becomes available. This is in direct contrast to copper, which will likely need frequent and costly upgrades over the years in order to keep up with wireless demands.
What is the difference between copper and fiber cable?
Copper cables are more expensive, larger in diameter than fiber-optic cables, and take up more space. Copper cables also take more time to install, which can translate into higher costs to upgrade a given property and can cause disruption to guests. Plus, properties may not have the physical space to put copper cable into a ceiling.
In addition to being physically smaller and requiring less space than copper, fiber-optic networks improve performance on mobile devices as well as connected devices like doorlocks and thermostats. Fiber can provide wireless service over greater distances – up to 300 times farther than a copper-based local area network — and bring high-speed, low latency, and wide bandwidth connections to individual rooms.
What about retrofitting existing properties?
Managers of established properties considering retrofitting from copper to fiber to stay competitive with new locations should know that the job is generally not as time-consuming as they may think. Since fiber is smaller than copper, construction time on a fiber-optic network tends to be shorter. For instance, a fiber to the room installation in a 30-year-old property, comprising 50 stories and 1,700 rooms, might be finished within six months.
What are the financial benefits?
Aside from the ability to drive revenue from guest bookings, fiber to the room offers distinct cost savings. Primary installation will drive cost but, unlike copper cabling, fiber is future proof; a fiber to the room system installed today will likely be good for the next couple of decades. This eliminates the need for frequent and costly upgrades, saving money in the long run and reducing the total cost of ownership.
In the end, any wireless initiative members of the hospitality industry undertake must drive guest satisfaction and cost savings and lay the groundwork for future technologies. Fiber to the room can help with each of these.
