Afternoon tea at the Ritz (starting at £57 per person) now comes with a side dish of 10GB fibre, as guests munch their way imperiously through ever more data.
The implementation by UK network provider Exponential-e of a 10GB fibre circuit comes as guests at the prestigious hotel seek ever more “bandwidth‐hungry services”.
The network has been delivered via one connection, split by an Ethernet demarcation device and delivered through two separate SFP fibre ports.
The corporate network and guest connectivity is split into two different flexible bandwidths, albeit both delivered by the same provider, meaning guests in the Piccadilly Suite (£1,795 per night) or any other room, can Netflix and chill uninterrupted in bandwidth-hogging VR splendour.
Richard Isted, IT Manager at The Ritz, said in a release shared Thursday: “As a luxury hotel, we always try to pre-empt and exceed the expectations of our guests at The Ritz and how our clients use digital services during their stay with us, or within any of our food and beverage outlets, is a key part of their overall experience.”
There are up to 1,200 connections at the hotel, which increasingly also needs to be able to support events that are VR headsets or mixed reality presentations, he added.
Philip Harmer, Head of Hospitality & Leisure at Exponential‐e, said: “The latest 10GigE connection means that The Ritz have established themselves as front-runner in future proofing within the hotel industry – the first in the UK to give themselves this amount of reliable, compliant, flexible bandwidth to use.”
He added: “From the Internet of Things to the widespread use of Augmented and Virtual Reality, the hospitality industry faces a future that demands connectivity. We are proud to provide this for The Ritz.”
Without furnishing a number, the two said the hotel’s network outlay has been “greatly reduced” by taking on the one, large‐scale offering from Exponential‐e.
