Whether you are building a new hotel or renovating an existing property, ensuring proper cell coverage is easy with turn-key RoamBOOST
By Pam Angelucci
Learning from one’s mistakes is a wonderful thing, but when oversights are made during the construction or renovation phase at a hotel but are not caught until the doors are ready to open or re-open, it could be costly — or worse, you could lose customers forever. The blunder I’m referring to occurs when owners, operators, construction crews and design teams don’t take cellular signal coverage into account when building a new hotel or embarking on a renovation. No hotel wants to be in the headlines for spending millions of dollars on wonderful amenities and then learn that it’s impossible for guests to use their mobile devices.
According to the 2015 Lodging Technology Study, 39.5 percent of hotels say that developing customer-facing mobile solutions is their No. 1 priority this year. However, the study shows that establishing a cellular infrastructure to support a mobile strategy was not a high priority for respondents “despite common concerns expressed by many hoteliers about the service levels offered by carriers.” In fact, 39 percent of hoteliers said they do not use a cellular infrastructure, 12 percent do not use but plan to add one this year, and 31 percent have one but don’t have any plans to upgrade. Only 18 percent of respondents have a cellular infrastructure in place, and recognizing its value, plan to make upgrades to the network within 18 months. When more than half of all hoteliers say they are “dissatisfied” with the cellular infrastructure of their hotels (21 percent of IT Executives and 32 percent of Hotel Managers), yet only 30 percent have any plans to do something about it, there is a BIG problem.
There really is no excuse for ignoring a building’s cellular infrastructure. Hotels simply add a distributed antenna system that strategically places DAS nodes — or amplifiers — in areas where coverage is nonexistent. These boosters can fix areas as small as 5,000 square feet or provide coverage throughout a multi-story property. Once installed, guests will immediately see a three-bar improvement on their phone’s signal strength meter and hotels will see an improvement in satisfaction scores and social media reviews.
New Construction S.O.S.
It’s not uncommon for me to receive an emergency call from a new construction hotel that had good mobile strength until its windows were installed. Oftentimes LEED glass is used to improve a building’s energy efficiency, but the reflective coating on the window inhibits the penetration of the mobile phone signal. During construction, everything can appear fine; crews use their cell phones with few problems. Once the rebar goes in, walls go up and glass is installed, cell signals disappear. It’s important to note that cell signal problems never get better, they always get worse.
There’s a long lead-time of 18 months to two years from when plans for a new building are sketched and a hotel’s doors open. To avoid cell signal issues from the get go, construction crews and design teams need to add DAS to their low voltage schematics (plans for computers, networks, and HSIA around the entire hotel). A DAS system has its own infrastructure, and follows the same path as low voltage. Developers who provide the construction team with a DAS plan at the time the infrastructure is being drafted will dramatically save costs — and headaches — for owners.
Cellular Signal Readings – Heat Map 1
If you miss the infrastructure plan phase, don’t panic. It’s still possible to add DAS nodes when contractors are pulling cable and putting in low voltage. At this point, the hotel is about nine months out from opening and the walls are not up yet. It’s far less expensive to add DAS at this stage than to address the problem just before opening. If you miss that window too, all is not lost. DAS systems can be installed after the walls are up and the plaster is on. If contracting with RoamBOOST, for example, our team visits the property to do a site survey. We take cell signal readings once the rebar is in place and the walls are up. This enables us to see exactly what type of signal is needed in the building. Then, before opening, we come back to the property and install RoamBOOST amplifiers just where they are needed.
If you completely miss all the windows above to add a DAS system, you still can add the necessary cabling, but it will be costly to do and it could potentially delay opening. Plaster walls will need to be cut and cables will need to run. Then, there’s the issue of disruption right before the big debut, the hotel needs to patch, repaint, and clean to get ready for opening. The process takes about a week to make everything look as if nothing was done. In hindsight, this could have all been avoided.
Renovation Scenario
If embarking on a renovation, the best scenario is to build a cellular infrastructure into your CAPEX plan. For a complete rebuild in which rooms are taken down to the studs, adding DAS nodes is easy. When walls come down, cabling goes in. If the property is just swapping out softgoods and casegoods, walls will need to be cut and the hotel will need to factor in time for installation and clean up.
The beauty of a DAS system is that it can be added incrementally. Nodes can be added by floors or by problematic public area. If the property is getting the most complaints about dropped calls in meeting rooms, do that area first. The lobby, lounge, bar or guestrooms can be added as needed.
If you think your property doesn’t have a problem with cellular reception, search for your hotel on TripAdvisor or other dedicated review site and read what your customers as saying just to be sure. Comments such as “Good Hotel; AWFUL Cell Reception” are quite common, and most times these dissatisfied travelers say they will never return. When these comments are shared via the social media channels, it’s a guarantee that potential prospects will disappear — especially meeting planners who don’t want to be inundated with complaints from their 300 delegates (which equates to a loss of 600 room nights or more).
My advice is this: if you are building a hotel or planning a renovation, adding or enhancing your cellular infrastructure is paramount. The earlier in the process this infrastructure is added, the better. Not only will a DAS system stop dropped calls, it will stop guests from leaving your property and never coming back.
At HITEC, come visit me with any questions, inquiries or just to say hello! RoamBOOST Booth #352
