Hospitality Technology calls ubiquitous cellular, like what a DAS provides, one of the ‘mega-trends’ in the hotel business
Christian Barb, senior vice president of global sales for DAS provider Zinwave, stressed the importance of hospitality interests providing guests with not only Wi-Fi, but also reliable cellular coverage. “A hotel with a reputation for poor cellular connectivity could be hindered in its ability to keep guests or to attract new customers in a world that is increasingly becoming more mobile and more connected,” he noted. “Guests come to a hotel with particular technology expectations around what they’ll be able to do with their smartphones. For hospitality organizations, the bottom line is meeting those expectations. And, for many guests, those start with being able to complete a cell phone call.”
Barb’s assertion lines up with what industry-focused publication Hospitality Technology identifies as one of the “mega-trends” that should inform hotel capex. In addition to “mobile ubiquity,” reliable in-building wireless cellular coverage touches on four of the other six trends: integrating mobile data like location-based services; enabling guestroom tech–think a Chromecast-enabled smart TV–; futureproofing networks; and beefing up security.
While those things could be accomplished by Wi-Fi, oftentimes Wi-Fi systems just can’t stand up to modern building techniques and shifting load demands. “Without reliable indoor cellular coverage,” Barb wrote, “many of the efforts and investments hotels are putting into these mobile capabilities – both for guests and hotel operations – would amount to little more than frustration and help drive customers to find other places to stay.”
From a product perspective, Zinwave’s solution is a four component–hub, service module, optical module and remote unit–DAS with a wide-band architecture that supports cellular and public safety services from 150 MHz to 2700 MHz based on single-mode or multi-mode fiber. The UNItivity platform “makes system growth for coverage of additional areas or buildings, or adding support for new frequencies, wireless operators or services, easily achievable at a minimal cost,” according to Zinwave.
