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antennas , the telco is supplying 5G-capable Samsung S10 smartphones and a custom Android app that lets guests control the TV and thermostat , make calls and stream video . The 5G mobile wireless is “ 7 to 11 times the speed of 4G ,” Leuenberger says .
Guests can make calls or interact with departments like housekeeping and room service , using either voice or WeChat , the messaging , social media and mobile payment app developed by China ’ s Tencent , which claims around 1.15 billion global monthly users . Badrutt ’ s Palace has had a WeChat option for about a year .
Guests also can use hotel-supplied smartphones to create a high-speed hotspot for their other electronic devices , or watch the same TV channels available in their room , even while walking around the Alpine town that surrounds Badrutt ’ s Palace or enjoying the ski slopes .
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The trial of both the 5G devices and the app , into which Badrutt ’ s Palace staff had substantial design input , ran through this winter season . ( If not for the Swisscom partnership , the 5G buildout would have cost around US $ 250,000 , not including labor and app development , Leuenberger says .)
UBIQUITOUS 5G The reliance of guests on their smartphones and apps is why Badrutt ’ s Palace didn ’ t deploy iPads as control devices in rooms . “ We tested this earlier ,” Leuenberger explains . “ But guests have better devices than we could buy for them .”
In fact , the managing director assumes that within a few years , the hotel won ’ t need to supply 5G devices to guests because they will bring their own . “ We have noticed guests from Asia have these [ phones ] already ,” Leuenberger says , adding that this 5G preparedness by Asian guests
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wasn ’ t behind the 5G deployment .
Experts , meanwhile , contend the 5G speed bump isn ’ t the real story . “[ 5G ] will enable business processes that weren ’ t possible , or were impractical to scale ,” says Gabriel Brown , a principal analyst at Heavy Reading , the research division of B-to-B digital media platform Light Reading that analyses emerging telecommunications trends . Brown and others say the real impact of 5G won ’ t be faster movie downloads but support for behind-thescenes infrastructure changes , such as use of the Internet of Things .
Leuenberger says the hotel reviewed future applications for the front and back of the house – for example , connectivity to guestroom doors , security cameras , energy management systems , software for a housekeeper device , or a mobile property management system .
But the hotel did not find any practical examples it felt
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compelled to implement now . “ We felt that the applications were not developed enough at this stage , and hence we try to focus on areas where we can give guests mobile bandwidth [ hotspots ] and better general coverage at this stage ,” he says .
According to research company Gartner Inc ., the share of 5G-capable phones will increase to 56 % by 2023 from 10 % in 2020 .
“ The major players in the mobile phone
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Badrutt ’ s Palace MD
Richard Leuenberger says the hotel is focusing primarily on guest-facing technology at this point .
market will look for 5G connectivity technology to boost replacements of existing 4G phones ,” Ranjit Atwal , senior research director at Gartner , said in a statement last year about the company ’ s ongoing research into worldwide shipments of PCs , tablets and mobile phones . “ Still , less than half of communications service providers globally will have launched a commercial 5G network in the next five years .”
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48 hotelsmag . com May 2020 |