How have IT departments developed to deal with the technological demands of the modern-day guest?
RT: IT departments need to be trained to deal with guests in a professional manner and you need to make sure you find quick solutions because when you’re dealing with guests they will not wait. If you’re not solving the problem, you’re not meeting their expectations. So first, we have increased our manning in the IT department and we now have dedicated staff to handle guest-orientated queries. Second, I have changed the working hours. We have a night shift, a morning shift and a weekend shift so we’re more flexible.
MN: We give training every two or three months to front-office staff. If I want to go to a guest’s room I have to check if they are available, but a bellboy can unlock the door. So we started an IT butler service where we train the bellboys, reception staff and security on basic IT skills. If they can’t help, they call me or my assistants.
HS: We have a dedicated IT butler service. These are IT professionals who work in the front office and deal with guests’ IT enquiries.
Salah Eldesoky: That’s the same as us; we have a dedicated team trained on different technologies. The competition forces you to introduce such services. In the past, it was never in the job scope to provide technical support to guests, but when you look around and see competitors doing it you’ve got to keep up to date with the market.
How do you cope with guests’ growing technological demands?
HS: It is very challenging because guests come with gadgets made in different countries. They have different connections and configurations so you need to be familiar with thousands of systems and different brands of laptops, and so on.
MB: Guests want to connect to their office through a Virtual Private Network (VPN) so they can log onto their email accounts. We have too many demands for this and each connection needs an Internet Protocol (IP) address. However, we don’t have enough IP addresses and that is something that they have elsewhere in the world so guests expect it.
RT: We have applied for so many IP addresses for VPN connections.
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Why are there not enough IP addresses?
MB: It’s expensive to get IP addresses from communications providers; you get only so many free. We have already purchased 15 IP addresses and I have requested 15 more.
Is there a problem with UAE communication providers?
SE: Well, in Europe there are multiple communication companies; if we had that here it would create a better, more competitive environment.
RT: Now we have Etisalat and Du and that has made the competition better. Etisalat did a great job on Yas Island. Due to the pressure from the government and from Aldar, they did everything on time and provided all the services we required.
MN: But we’re still paying so much for a 10mb or even a 4mb line. In Europe you wouldn’t pay that much. Communications are still very expensive.
MB: You cannot explain this to guests. They say they have an 8mb line at their home so they believe they should be getting more at a five-star hotel.
HS: Internet is a commodity now. You will not go to a hotel without an internet connection; it would be like having no water or electricity. We provide the highest-speed internet for a fee and a standard speed for free. We did a survey and guests were happy with that.
RT: We’re also giving two options; one speed free of charge and our best product for a cost. If you want 20mb you have to pay for it. This has reduced complaints because when guests ask for free internet they get it, if they want to connect to a business network they can but they must pay. Most times the company is paying for these expenses and generally business guests’ expectations are much higher.
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