By Andrew Yorra, VP of Business Development, Eleven Wireless |
Hotels don't have to pick one of the single options we have mentioned in this series, and in fact are best served by bundling services into packages. For example, a hotel might have a free service plan that provides limited bandwidth Internet throughout the guest rooms and lobby, a premium service that provides higher bandwidth for 3 devices in the same hotel parts, and an uber-premium package that provides everything in the premium package but also includes access in the meeting rooms. on the flip side, hotels should be very careful to avoid making their plans too complicated and difficult for guests to understand…that will frustrate guests and result in less than optimal revenue. Network providers should be fluent in these options and be able to readily provide the solutions that meet their clients' needs. If a hotel's provider cannot deliver this type of solution, consider leveraging a 3rd party provider-neutral software solution like ElevenOS, which is available via the cloud and available for use by network providers. Before implementing the freemium model, hotels should check their brand standard to make sure it's permissible, investigate their competitive set to see what's out there, and talk to guests for genuine and relevant feedback. By becoming knowledgeable about the options and understanding what others are doing and how, hotels will maximize the likelihood they implement a solution that keeps guests happy while still generates revenue for the hotel.
