Jun 2005 -- Guests at nearly 100 Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, All Season, Ibis and Formule 1 hotels throughout Australia will have a choice of wireless or wired broadband, under an innovative new agreement between Telstra and Accor.
Accor is the largest hotel group in Australia operating the hotel brands Sofitel, Novotel, Mercure, All Seasons, Ibis and Formule 1.
“Under the agreement, Telstra will provide the Telstra Wireless Hotspot service to Accor’s participating hotels around Australia and a wired broadband internet service through hospitality broadband solutions provider inter-touch,” said Telstra General Manager Wireless Data Solutions, Mr Paul Thomas
“The service enables hotel visitors to plug their laptops into a broadband connection in guest and meeting rooms or access the Internet wirelessly in selected guest rooms and public areas such as lobbies and front desk reception areas, bars and restaurants.
Accor Asia Pacific General Manager of IT&T, Mr Jacques Seidenberg said the availability of a reliable, high-speed internet service was fast becoming an essential pre-requisite for the modern day traveller.
“An ever increasing number of Accor guests require Internet access and the new agreement with Telstra provides a service that enables our guests to check emails and surf the web at broadband speeds.”
“We currently estimate that about one third of our nine million annual guests travel with a laptop, which demonstrates the potential demand for reliable, high speed data services,” he said.
With these improved services, guests will be able to enjoy speeds of up to 1mbps on either the wired or unwired broadband service, which is much faster than the maximum 56 kbps for dial-up that previously was the only internet service available in most Accor hotels.
“Guests will be able to check emails and surf the web at broadband speeds using either wired or wireless technology,” Mr Thomas said.
The first of the installations commenced last month, with the full rollout progressively being completed over the rest of the year.
“The new broadband service will make our guests even more comfortable and it complements the impressive array of other modern facilities already available throughout Accor hotels,” said Mr Seidenberg.
“We can concentrate on running a business we know, which is hotels, and rely on the expertise of Telstra to provide our guests with state of the art technology, service and support.”
Mr Thomas said the provision of both wired and wireless broadband services represented a true collaboration between several vendors.
“Telstra will manage the roll-out of the Telstra Wireless Hotspots while KAZ, our IT services and business process outsourcing company, has been appointed as the agent to manage the provision of the wired broadband service through a third party arrangement with inter-touch,” Mr Thomas said.
“Through this innovative partnership arrangement with KAZ and inter-touch, Telstra can offer customers a comprehensive, end-to-end internet solution that meets the express needs of our customers.
“By working with Accor, Telstra is able to expand its already extensive Telstra Wireless Hotspots network that now incorporates the Sydney and Melbourne CBD precincts, Qantas Club Lounges, McDonald’s restaurants, Starbuck stores and a variety of other convention centres and hotels.”
As part of the vendor agreement, Telstra will manage the installation and maintenance of the Telstra Wireless Hotspot service, with inter-touch providing similar support for the wired internet service, via an 1800 number.
Telstra has introduced KAZ and inter-touch to the partnership to bring their combined expertise and depth of experience in ICT consultancy, provision and management of wired broadband access within the hospitality industry to meet Accor’s strategic business objectives.
Telstra customers using Telstra Mobile Broadband are also able to use the Telstra Wireless Hotspots on certain PC Pack plans.