As a hotel owner or manager, there are a huge number of things you must worry about on a daily basis. You must organize your staff, ensure that your employees are performing according to their job descriptions, field any issues that might crop up when dealing with guests, and honestly, a whole slew of other daily tasks too numerous to list. All of these things are necessary if you hope to achieve success within the hotel industry, but few are as important as communication.
In fact, proper communication is a hotel's lifeblood, in a sense. Not only must employees be able to contact each other to keep work flowing well, your guests require communication with the front desk, various hotel amenities, and the outside world. This latter need has increased exponentially over the years as the use of mobile computing has become more commonplace. If a hotel fails at providing proper communication for guests, they're already a step behind.
Although a quality provider of VoIP will handle the technical aspects of upgrading your phone system, it's important that you at least be a bit aware of the inner workings. Take GPON, for example. There's a good chance that you might hear this term bandied about, especially when you're either installing or upgrading your network, so it's important as a hotel owner or manager to have at least a glancing knowledge of the subject and what it means to your hotel.
What is GPON?
Gigabit Passive Optical Network, or GPON, is a convenient way in which optical fiber can be delivered to small businesses. It functions as a point-to-multipoint access mechanism, which basically means that it can go from one point (the service provider) to multiple points (more than one small business) at once without sacrificing quality or being limited in any way due to bandwidth. This is accomplished by the use of passive splitters within the fiber distribution network. A big advantage of this type of network setup is that it can service multiple line rates at once. In other words, if two small businesses (which can include your hotel and another business, for example) are using the same GPON, your upload and download rates do not have to match in order to function. This gives the network improved flexibility and doesn't limit your choices or force you to upgrade your network or equipment unnecessarily.
What Does GPON Mean For Your Hotel?
The use of GPON represents a shift in the way many hotels are providing network access to their guests. Owners and managers are beginning to look at GPON as a way to give PAN (personal area network) equivalents to guest rooms can operate in a more businesslike manner. This method allows HSIA, VoIP, and IP-TV to be delivered to each room using different speeds and bandwidth allocation, as well as providing different bandwidth allocation based on the type of guest or as a free first tier service rather than a paid or VIP service that enables more TV, faster Internet, and maybe even free VoIP.
The network setup that you use for your hotel may not be a specific concern of yours, especially once you have a quality provider to walk you through some of the basics and then take over handling everything for you. That being said, it's always a good idea to know that your hotel has been equipped with an efficient network that will be reliable throughout its operational life. This is exactly what you get with a Gigabit Passive Optical Network. GPON is able to deliver dedicated, symmetric bandwidth at a consistent rate. But as a hotel owner, all you probably need to know is that your customers will be more than satisfied by the network's performance, keeping them happy throughout their stay with you and your staff, ensuring repeat business and fewer problems to rectify.
When upgrading to VoIP, you'll have certain choices to make. Your number one goal should be to find a provider that will step you through the process and explain everything in detail to ensure your hotel is equipped with the best communication capabilities available. PhoneSuite has been in the industry since 1988 and can assist you throughout your upgrade to VoIP and beyond.
