Monday, October 30, 2006 Staying connected By Jigs Arquiza
“IT’S a reflection of how people now travel.” Tim Wright says of how an internet connection is already a requirement of most tourists, “Even if they are on leisure, they want to stay connected, whether it’s for personal mail or keeping up with the office.”
The general manager of Shangri-La’s Mactan Island Resort and Spa, Tim explains the hotel’s latest offering to its guests, a high-speed wireless internet connection available anywhere within the hotel grounds. According to him, what was unusual or considered a luxury five years ago is an expected standard at present. Recalling the broadband boom in the late 1990’s, he tells us how majority of hotels started providing internet in their rooms and used this as a come-on to their customers.
“If you didn’t have it, then you were gonna lose business,” he says. He also relates how guests would find it very surprising that hotels would not be able to provide an internet connection in their rooms, “It’s not a luxury anymore, it’s nothing to crow about anymore. It’s a basic standard, it’s a necessity. It’s like having hot water and cold water in your bathroom.”
Hence Shangri-La’s decision to partner with GlobeQuest in order to provide its guests with the best and fastest internet service possible. With mostly Koreans, statistically the world’s highest internet users, making up the majority of the hotel’s patrons, Tim finds it especially reassuring to have GlobeQuest managing the hotel’s wireless network, as they have the experience and expertise in handling this kind of requirement. Being the most innovative in their solution to Shangri-la’s internet requirements made the decision easy for Tim to tie up with Globe. He further explains that Globe was able to understand exactly what Shangri-La’s guests required, a major factor that helped seal the deal.
“We now see people come down to the lounge and log on to the net.” Tim shares when asked how the hotel guests have reacted to the new service, “They’ve reacted quite positively, they’re very delighted with it.”
It’s pretty obvious it’s not only the guests who are delighted with Shangri-La becoming, as they say in tech circles, a hot zone.
“It has contributed to better service for our guests,” Tim Wright declares in his Scottish burr as he adds, “and when you look after your guests, your guests look after you!”
