The Wyndham London is the capital’s only all-suite five star luxury hotel. Over eight floors it offers unique views across the marina at Chelsea Harbour and the River Thames. It’s the place where big business is made and where guests can relax in privacy and luxury. In addition to this, the hotel has a purpose-built conference centre spread over two floors and offers state of the art audio-visual conferencing.

Three years ago when a major refurbishment was carried out across its suites, the hotel decided to take the opportunity to introduce High Speed Internet Access (HSIA). The idea was that re-cabling work could be carried out at the same time, thereby minimising disruption and redecoration work. Unsurprisingly for a project of this scale the hotel brought in a consultant and conducted an official tendering process, splitting the cabling work from the actual provision of the Internet service. In the case of the latter requirement, RIEO was awarded the contract from a shortlist of four companies.

“RIEO proved to be the best solution for us in every respect,” says the Wyndham London's Financial Controller, Michael Schaefer, “We've had so few problems with it
consequently it has proved to be a service we really could fit and forget.”

At the time, wired access was provided throughout the hotel but last year wireless provision was also introduced. As a result, from penthouse suites to any of the 14 conference rooms, guests can select their method of connection. The hotel itself, meanwhile, can select the method of charging users: “There are all sorts of business models that operate around this kind of service,” notes Schaefer, “but we were determined not to take a revenue share agreement with our provider. This means we can generate revenue how we want to and all we pay for is system maintenance and the lease for the leased-line.”

Not only does the hotel feel they have secured the right solution, but their customers are equally enthusiastic about the service. Schaefer remarks that HSIA is one of the top three reasons why certain businesses have selected the hotel for their events and conference needs. Moreover, with RIEO's support service available around the clock, the hotel can be confident in guaranteeing the high level of service Wyndham London guests expect.

“The support is seamless,” continues Schaefer. “Our customers can call the help desk directly or go through our operator. The response is always swift and practical. Indeed, the majority of problems usually prove to be the result of issues with the user's laptops – over zealous security settings installed by the employee's IT department or purely the age of the computers used.”

For the hotel itself, Schaefer believes the network is functional for more than 99% of the time and RIEO are always on hand to remedy any issues which might arise from unforeseen glitches. “It's amazing how few problems we've experienced,” he admits, “RIEO have been pro-active and they've given us a resilient Internet service.”

Increasingly, hotel guests expect HSIA as standard. With a certain reputation to uphold, nothing at the Wyndham London could be described as standard – and thanks to RIEO that now includes Internet provision.