In order to achieve additional revenue, enhanced guest satisfaction and a good core services package that can be offered to all guests, the hospitality sector needs to look forward and embrace new technology advancements.

With society becoming more and more dependent on the internet, it is important for hotels to meet with this demand and provide guests with an online service that is expected. This expectation requires that installation of High Speed Internet Access (HSIA) comes as standard in all rooms without a hidden cost.

HSIA solutions do not have to be compromised upon and can benefit hotels located in idyllic settings and rural locations such as the Lake District, as this type of technology is now available in the most remote of locations.

The English Lakes Hotel chain is a family of five hotels set in and around the beautiful countryside of the Lake District. This location provides guests with a rural retreat, where everyone can benefit from the breathtaking landscape, diverse range of activities and welcoming atmosphere provided in every one of these stunning hotels.

In order to compete with other hotels in the Lake District, and to attract all important business (including the conference market), English Lakes Hotels wanted to offer a complete range of core services to all guests and visitors. This would ensure that return custom is improved, along with attracting new clientele to the hotels. Furthermore, those guests looking for a retreat and escape can use the HSIA solution to provide themselves with a link to the outside world, if desired. 

English Lakes Hotels also needed to meet an increasing demand to offer HSIA to all its guests. As Internet access is extremely popular for both business and personal use, it has now become de rigueur to offer this service as standard, not as an added extra. It is essential when hiring out conferencing rooms that they are equipped with up to date technology; if this isn’t on offer, the client is likely to go to elsewhere.   

It was also important that the HSIA solution they invested in allowed the group to retain control over the fee and billing structure along with autonomy over the subsequent branding of Internet home/ splash pages as traditional HSIA solutions did not offer this facility.

English Lakes Hotels would also need a service that was easy for guests to use and that provided a helpline, as the hotel staff did not want to be left handling internet problems, as they felt that would take the focus off offering high quality hospitality support.

Luckily, RIEO Communications, an Internet solutions provider, approached English Lakes Hotels offering their unique HSIA solution that enables hotels to have complete control and ownership of all the revenue created by Internet use, and has an invaluable 24/7 help desk for when guests or staff need IT assistance. In addition to this solution RIEO design the hotel splash page, tailoring it to the hotels design. 

After winning the tender, installation of HSIA in each hotel only took a matter of days, and created minimal disruption to guests and staff.

“I am pleased that during the implementation of the HSIA everything went smoothly and guests and staff went about their daily business none the wiser to the work being carried out,” comments Harvie Rollins, Group Technology Manager for English Lakes Hotels.
Implementing HSIA has made English Lakes Hotels more competitive with other hotels in the area. The service the hotel chain now provides is comprehensive and has also attracted more people to use their conferencing facilities along with meeting guest expectations.

Although 100% of the revenue can be recouped by the hotels, English Lakes decided not to use HSIA as a direct money-making scheme.

“As HSIA is seen as standard, we felt to offer the best service to our guests we would not charge them excessively for using it. However, HSIA still provides a small revenue for the hotel and guests seem positive about this service.”