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Business Travelers Demand Fast, Secure Internet
High-Speed Internet Access and Security are Important Factors for Discriminating Business Travelers.
A White Paper by iBAHN
New broadband applications feed the need for speed among business travelers who work and play online after hours. As more guests engage in high-bandwidth activities, the lodging industry is being pressured to deliver fast, reliable, secure broadband.
With two thirds of business travelers now using computers in their hotel rooms,[i] it’s no wonder that after guest room comfort, the second most important amenity is high-speed Internet access (HSIA).[ii] If the broadband service fails to meet expectations, these valued guests will not come back.
According to JupiterResearch (www.jupiterresearch. com), a technology research and advisory firm, 88 percent of all business travelers say availability of HSIA is extremely important in their hotel choice. Of the guests who were dissatisfied with the broadband service, 52 percent said they would not return to the hotel, and 15 percent said they would abandon the chain.[iii]
Accessing the Internet on the road is so important, frequent business travelers don’t mind paying extra for broadband. One executive told New York Times columnist Joe Sharkey, “Reliable high-speed Internet service is probably my No. 2 requirement in a hotel, right after hot water.” Sharkey sympathized, adding that like most other business travelers, he regards the quality of the connection to be more important than how much it costs.[iv]
Broadband service providers for the hospitality industry estimate that 20 percent of a hotel’s guests are online at once.[v] The first delivery challenge for hotels is size of the Internet “pipe.” The second significant challenge is in managing the bandwidth within the hotel or conference center so that the first five or six users can’t “hog” the available bandwidth through bandwidth-intensive applications, making Internet access a poor experience for everyone else. As more business travelers use the Internet for these bandwidth intensive activities, even broadband service can slow to a crawl. Managed HSIA services are fulfilling the growing demand for bandwidth—which helps hotels fulfill their promise to deliver fast, secure broadband services.
Internet Savvy Guests
Now that more consumers have broadband connections at home than ever before, more people are using the Internet when they’re on the road. The Pew Internet & American Life Project (www.pewinternet.org) May 2005 survey showed that 53 percent of home Internet users have high-speed connections, up from 50 percent in December 2004.[vi] In-Stat (www.instat.com), a provider of digital communications market research and analysis, expects the number of worldwide broadband subscribers to double within five years, reaching 413 million by the end of 2010.[vii]
On an average day, the 73 percent of American adults who use the Internet do such mundane activities as send e-mail, search the Web, and get news and weather. But a surprising number also watch a video clip or listen to an audio clip (56 percent); download games, videos or pictures (42 percent); download computer programs (39 percent); play games online (31 percent); listen to a live or recorded radio broadcast (29 percent); share files (27 percent); download music (25 percent); make Internet phone calls (13 percent); and use social networking sites (11 percent).[viii]
Excerpt from "Business Travelers Demand Fast, Secure Internet," A White Paper by iBAHN. Copyright 2006 iBAHN, Salt Lake City, Utah. |
