A NORTH Yorkshire hotel is expecting its turnover to rise by more than 15 per cent this year after an IT upgrade transformed its WiFi access.
The Ripon Spa Hotel, in Ripon, invested in the IT upgrade after listening to feedback from its business guests on the unreliability of its WiFi.
The 40-bedroomed hotel, whose business guests account for 45 per cent of its turnover, turned to Clive Owen Technology Services, in Darlington, following the negative feedback.
Samantha Thompson, managing director, of the hotel, said the new installation meant that WiFi could be accessed in every part of the hotel, including its function rooms, bar, restaurant and conference facilities.
Said Samantha: “Customers rely on WiFi so much, whether they want to file reports, do research or read emails at the end of the day. We always ask guests to fill out a quick questionnaire while they check out and we knew the WiFi was an issue.
“The great thing about Lee at Clive Owen is he cut through the technical jargon. The installation was made ahead of schedule just before Christmas and we can confidently say that the WiFi is seamless across the whole hotel.
“We’re due to take on another member of staff and I expect to see our turnover increase by at least 15 per cent this year as a result. We’re already getting great feedback from our business guests.”
Lee Huck, director at Clive Owen Technology Services, said they were initially contacted to put the hotel’s booking system on the Cloud, before the WiFi issue was tackled.
“They now have coverage absolutely everywhere. They can walk from the very top of the hotel downstairs to the bar area and even onto the veranda and not lose coverage once,” he said. “It will make a massive difference to the hotel and make them more business friendly.
The hotel, which was built in 1906, is in the ownership of the Hutchinson family, and Samantha’s mother, Georgie Curry, was the previous managing director of the hotel.
“Between us we’ve been running the hotel for 43 years,” said Samantha. “With the worldwide recession we’ve had a quiet six or seven years, but last year was excellent and with the new WiFi, we expect 2016 to be an even stronger year for us.”
Lee Huck, of Clive Owen Technology Services, with Samantha Thompson, managing director of the Ripon Spa hotel