I'm in West Palm Beach at one of Marriott's Courtyard by Marriott properties. Years ago their saying when they first introduced this mid priced, business person's oriented property line which transformed the hotel industry was "Designed by Business Travelers, For Business Travelers" because Marriott actually spent time asking the business traveler, who up until then either backed up into a Holiday Inn or stayed in a full service hotel. Courtyards offer the best of full service properties, but with less frills, and honestly, a more modern feel.
But those days are gone, at least when it comes to broadband. At this property, when you select the "higher speed" which is free for Gold and Platinum members like me, you expect really good speeds. I'm getting 2.5 megs up and down so I can only imagine what the non VIP's are getting. But actually, I could live on 2.5 for email and surfing, but given Marriott doesn't install neutral carrier DAS systems, the cell coverage on both AT&T and T-Mobile is just under two bars on AT&T and one on T-Mobile but not strong enough for the other side to hear the Wi-Fi is what I was counting on to make calls over my laptop, or Wi-Fi calling via T-Mobile. Unfortunately, the bandwidth is so bad that a call will be choppy. So much for business grade Internet.
Thankfully, I also have a Verizon MiFi I'm doing a lot better with 8 megs down, peaking to over 10 megs, and 3 megs up peaking at over 4. So, while that's acceptable for lightweight work as well, things will just take a bit longer than they need to if I had real broadband here at the hotel.
If hotels want to really attack the connectivity issue they need more than just Wi-Fi. They need to look at things like DAS systems and better network gear on the premises. Install a gig of fiber. Run high quality Meraki, Cisco or similar quality access points. Put access points in every room (just like all the Mama Shelter hotels do in France) and give each room it's own piece of the pipe, not simply a cut of it.
By providing the DAS you'll also find that those with MiFi's and broadband deals on their tablets and smartphones end up using that, which means capacity from four carriers is being used vs. the hotel bandwidth. That's a win for the carriers and the hotels, but most of all, for the traveler.
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