Fifty-six per cent of hospitality organisations plan to raise mobile and wireless investments in 2011, with guest experience cited as the top driver for investment, a report said.

Three-quarters of hospitality decision makers agreed guest experience was primary driver for mobility investments, according to a Motorola Solutions survey, which uncovered that IT spending in the hospitality industry is expected to increase in 2011.

The Motorola Solutions 2011 Hospitality Market Barometer reveals that 91 per cent of hospitality decision makers realize the increasing importance of mobile and wireless technology, while 78 per cent recognize the role mobility plays in ensuring a competitive advantage for their business.

As a result, hospitality venues are investing in new technology, as well as powerful wireless networks to handle greater data volumes and increasing demands for high-speed access from the customer and mobile workforce.

Hospitality decision makers are investing in mobile technologies to support customer-facing applications that improve guest services by handling wireless email, guest/attendee check-in, table-side order/payment or event ticketing, among others.

Sixty-one per cent of respondents plan to deploy some form of video capabilities, including video surveillance, video conferencing and streaming video, in public access areas such as lobbies, the report said.

Fifty-eight per cent of surveyed hospitality organizations deploying mobile technology today see improved customer satisfaction.

Fifty-nine per cent of respondents currently deploying mobile and wireless technology witnessed an increase in employee productivity and efficiency, while 55 per cent saw improved sales results, said the report.

Managers, security personnel and customer service associates are the primary users of mobile and wireless devices in the hospitality companies surveyed – 71 per cent of supervisors use smartphones, 52 per cent of security use radios, 19 per cent of ticketing agents are equipped with voice-over-IP (VoIP), and 26 per cent of property managers have tablets.

Currently, the most popular applications on two-way radios are project management (51 per cent) and collaboration (41 per cent). Unified messaging and remote management/monitoring have the highest rate of planned deployments into 2012, the survey found.

Among survey respondents, tablets and VoIP handsets are the top two mobile devices planned for new deployments by 2012.

Seventy-five per cent of hospitality organizations surveyed already have wireless LAN (WLAN) installed in their facilities. In North America, approximately one third of these venues have 802.11n, while European venues predominately have 802.11b/g.

Forty-two per cent of respondents with existing WLAN expect to be fully upgraded to 802.11n by the end of 2012.

Improving throughput and reliability, and extending range of current wireless data networks are the top three drivers behind 802.11n WLAN adoption – all critical network features to meet greater data volumes and increasing demands for access from the customer and mobile workforce.

“Advances in wireless and mobile technologies, products and services are changing the landscape of the hospitality industry and how it operates,” Craig Mathias, principal, Farpoint Group.

“With a demanding client base equipped with increasing numbers of smartphones, tablet computers, notebook PCs and even rugged devices, successful hospitality IT organizations recognize the need to upgrade their existing WLANs to improve network reliability, capacity and coverage to support customer-facing applications, as well as internal services that enable their own mobile workforce and improve the guest experience,” he added.

Thomas Moore, director of Hospitality Industry Solutions, Motorola Solutions, said: “The hospitality industry is seeing the rapid adoption of mobile and wireless technology, and organizations are quickly realizing the benefits and competitive advantage associated with their utilization.”

“Motorola offers a full portfolio of solutions to prepare hospitality organizations – including full-service restaurants, hotels and resorts, casinos, stadiums and conference centers – for the future, while improving sales and productivity, streamlining operations and increasing customer satisfaction in the near-term,” Moore concluded. – TradeArabia News Service