As most business travelers, I travel quite a bit during the course of an average month, and this month, I've spent an inordinate amount of time living out of a suitcase in hotels from coast to coast, so I've garnered a good perspective on technology at use in the hospitality industry. I often read about how this discount chain or that luxury hotel is deploying technology to improve the guest experience, but to be honest, I have not seen much of this technology deployed in practice.   You know there's still a ways to go, when the most exciting innovation that I've come across is the ability to arrange a wake-up call without having to interact with a hotel operator.   Still, as IP-based technology proliferates through the hospitality industry, the potential to leverage next-generation communications solutions such as VoIP or unified communications to revolutionize the guest experience is greater than ever.   And at some properties, forward-thinking CIOs are making the move to adopt and deploy next-gen communications technologies to better serve their constituents -- staff and guests alike.   In a recent case study, Riyaz Akhtar, Executive Vice President of Development, Hampshire Hotels & Resorts discusses the steps he and his team took to deploy communications and information technologies in order to:   ·         Enhance the guest experience ·         Achieve competitive differentiation ·         Raise repeat visit ratio ·         Increase operational efficiency   In the end Akhtar and his team selected Alcatel-Lucent as their technology vendor of choice.
  Writes Akhtar:   "With Alcatel-Lucent, we had an opportunity to review a number of technologies, including networking, telephony, management, security and Unified Communications -- and began exploring which technologies could positively affect key operations of all properties. We looked at how WiFi phones could optimize operations. We looked at optical gear that could connect hotels and centralize operations. And we explored how applications like MobiCall could resolve guest issues by integrating automated concierge services, contact center technology and other relevant operations."   By leveraging a variety of technological solutions from Alcatel-Lucent, Hampshire Hotels was able to enhance the guest experience, better equip the staff and facilities management to be more efficient and effective in their daily tasks, and save a huge amount of money.