Olympic games to generate hospitality opportunities for VARs

Resellers will be needed to help hoteliers gain a competitive edge in time for the Olympic games, says James Harris

According to some estimates, more than 350,000 tourists may visit the UK each day during the Olympics next year.

As well as looking for comfortable and convenient accommodation in the areas surrounding the main Olympic venues (London, Manchester, Weymouth and Cardiff), many of these visitors will also be looking for a venue that will enable them to satisfy their desire for digital content and news.

In other words, they will want to be connected to the internet.

For many hoteliers, providing and managing internet access can be a painful exercise, but increasingly it is a facility that ranks highly for consumers and businesspeople alike when selecting accommodation.

So for resellers, going out with a targeted and focused solution could be exactly what the hospitality sector is looking for to fulfil this demand.

Still not convinced of the hospitality opportunity? Beyond the immediate Olympic requirement, I have read estimates which suggest that between 2010 and 2015, some 40,000 new hotel rooms across the UK are planned for roll out as demand grows for holidaying at home, especially as holidays abroad are getting more expensive.

For resellers, there are two main sub-sector opportunities. The first is the retrofit – either replacing existing dysfunctional equipment or deploying into an existing building for the first time. The second is the greenfield, new-build site.

For both, the reseller must offer the best advice available. What might seem the quickest and most cost-effective solution could become redundant within a short few months in this industry.

Leaving aside the venue's decision of whether to charge for access or not, guests are showing an incredible appetite for streamed content over the internet as well, with some figures suggesting that average amount of data streamed by a booked guest every 24 hours has more than doubled in recent times.

So equipment installations need to not only provide for now but lay the foundations for growth as demand continues to rise.

Resellers must identify the right hospitality solution for their customers, but the opportunity is clear.

James Harris is product manager at ZyXEL UK