CHICAGO—Hotel operators’ recognition of the fact that they can no longer derive significant revenue from guests placing outside calls through guestroom phones has become rather obvious in the face of travelers’ second-only-to-breathing use of cell phones today. Consequently, in a sort of “if you can’t beat them, help them,” value-add strategy, hotels are increasingly deploying in-building distributed cellular antenna systems in order to simply provide the cellular reception guests now require but often can’t get in many monolithic properties.
Among the latest hotels proactively identifying this emerging trend is the Trump Organization’s newly built, 92-story Trump International Hotel and Tower here. And considering how robust the property’s structural composition is, realizing that cellular reception would be an eventual challenge while the development was still ongoing was critical in the ultimate successful outcome.
“We were fortunate to put in the system before the hotel opened up [during the hotel’s three-year construction],” admitted Jerry Chang, the property’s IT director. “We got in at the early stages, so we were able to put in a lot of the internal wiring ahead of time. And we had identified early on that there were going to be some reception problems within the building. It’s all pre-poured, reinforced concrete and steel, so it’s one of the densest buildings in the world. We knew there wasn’t going to be much of a signal coming in from the outside and that we needed to have some sort of signal generator in the building in order to provide adequate service for our guests and staff.”
Considering most buildings don’t exactly come with their own cellular towers, the cellular-boosting options were not clear to Chang initially during the Trump International’s development on the site of the former Chicago Sun-Times building. But then he learned about in-building distributed antenna systems (DAS), which are, in effect, cell phone towers inside buildings.
“We did a lot of learning on the fly,” Chang noted. “We had a lot of discussions with various vendors and consultants, and for us the biggest factor was timeline. When we started looking at the cellular DAS systems we had six months to go before the hotel opened up, so we had a situation where the walls were closing up fast and dry walling was occurring. We needed a system quickly.”
The system that was ultimately selected was from a company called ADC, which provides connections for wireline, wireless, cable, broadcast and enterprise networks around the world. For the Trump International, ADC deployed its InterReach Fusion DAS product, which was chosen, according to Chang, because it had the capabilities to provide everything the hotel required. “It gave us a multi-band system we could put anything on and that allows us to cover even the expanse of the building square footage without losing too much signal,” he said. “It’s a fiber-fed system.”
For the 28 floors the hotel resides on within the tower, the InterReach Fusion DAS feeds 174 remote antenna units (RAUs). Because of the system’s active architecture, deployment teams were able to leverage the existing fiber cabling in the building’s utility risers to extend signals from main hubs to expansion hubs located on various floors. The RAUs are linked to expansion hubs via standard CAT5 cable. This DAS architecture allows each RAU to be placed close to cell phone users in strategic areas of the property where coverage improvement is needed most. The system now delivers wireless service to all rooms as well as the reception area, the 23,000-square foot spa, meeting rooms, the restaurant and the bar.
Of course, it’s up to the individual cell phone carrier companies to choose to provide service through the DAS. Among the first to jump into the building was Sprint. However, because of Sprint’s unique signal, it initially caused a reception problem for those guests with other competing cellular carriers. “We learned Sprint’s signal caused interference with certain other carriers, but we identified that early on,” Chang said. “As a solution, we had to put another system layer in for the other carriers six months after the hotel opened up [in January of 2008]. We didn’t have to cut into walls or ceilings.”
Within those walls and ceilings, in addition to the DAS, are the lines of other wiring that keep the Trump International humming from a telecommunications, television, property management and Internet services standpoint. But unlike some newer hotels, though, the Trump International does not run such services through a single converged Internet protocol network. Instead, it has CAT5, CAT6, fiber and coaxial cable running through its veins.
Chang noted that in spite of such an infrastructure array, the Trump Organization chose not to deploy voice over IP phones in the Trump International’s guestrooms. When asked why not, Chang responded, “The big thing was the cost factor, and it’s not just putting in the system and the servicing aspect of it. It’s also the applications. So in order to do [VOIP] right we would have had to spend a lot of money developing applications that run on the system. Plus, our customers like things simple. They want to be able to reach out to the operator without reading a manual. So we have regular phones from Telematrix.”
Furthermore, it could be argued that by investing in the DAS, which cost in the “millions,” according to Chang, the Trump International is already committed to the fact that the guestroom phone is no longer a revenue producer or guest focal point. Thus, VOIP is seemingly not necessary in the Trump International’s case.
Scrambling around to find good cell phone reception is also not necessary thanks to the DAS, which Chang said provides stronger cellular reception than most buildings. “We basically have a cell phone tower inside, so there’s really no loss of signal, and with the dozens of antennas on each floor, you get a perfect signal,” he explained.
Chang further noted that in maintaining that signal strength, each carrier is responsible for sending an engineer to the property when something’s wrong with the individual signal. “We do most of that coordinating directly with each carrier,” Chang noted. “All of the equipment is carrier-owned, so they’re responsible for maintenance and repair. Plus, they want to make sure their customers are well covered in this building.”
And considering how strong the cellular service is within the building, it begs the question of whether customers have even noticed. “When everything is working well, you don’t hear from guests,” Chang said. “Before we had all the carriers in the building guests would complain they couldn’t make calls. But since most of the carriers are in the building now, you don’t hear from them as much.”
Apparently, that’s because they’re all too busy talking on their cell phones.