IP Communications Featured Articles

The Woodlands Resort is fairly well-known in golfing circles, offering 36 holes of championship-grade golf in Texas climate; it's only a half-hour away from Houston, after all. With plans in the works to undergo a major renovation effort set to complete in just a few months—it's expected to finish in the fall of 2014—it's going to add on a lot of extra space and, as such, have room for a great many more guests. But to keep it all straight and running smoothly, meanwhile, the Woodlands Resort is looking to get a hole in one out of a new IP communications move, turning to NEC (News - Alert) for a new line of hotel solutions to keep the hotel running as smooth as the greens.

The Woodlands Resort turned to NEC for its Applications Platforms for Hotels system, first announced back in 2013, in April, as a means to offer a variety of useful new tools for hotels to put to use in making sure that guests have the best possible experience. The system actually resides on a single-server, all-IP platform, which is part of what makes the Applications Platforms for Hotels system something of an industry first, according to reports.

The NEC Applications Platforms for Hotels system can be specifically tooled to the needs of individual hotels, giving it maximum efficiency in the field. Better yet, all of the applications are involved get a full pre-testing before installation to ensure the smoothest on-boarding process and getting the whole thing up and running in the most rapid of fashions.

When the system is in place, it offers up several noteworthy features, including a set of unified communications (UC) tools ranging from instant messaging and group chat to complete voice and video conferencing mechanisms. It also offers up a console application that offers more hotel-specific services like scheduling wake-up calls, offering guest messaging tools, and the ability to better handle higher volumes of calls in general. There's even a mobility component involved, offering some specific features for mobile clients using either Android (News - Alert) or iOS, allowing from easy roaming.

The Woodlands IT director Jose C. Garcia offered up some commentary on why NEC was selected, saying, “As a world class destination resort, The Woodlands Resort was seeking a proven partner who can bring innovative, leading technology to complement the level of service our guests expect. Our decision to select NEC is based on its history of success in the hospitality industry, proven support, and a highly innovative solution. Additionally, NEC will provide us with a seamless transition to an all-IP platform.”

With The Woodlands Resort poised to nearly double its available space from around 220 rooms to over 404 rooms, it's clear that a solution that can handle increased call volume is going to be a major requirement right from the word go. When so many extra rooms are added, that's really only going to increase call volume. But additionally, the extra features brought out—the ability to better communicate within the organization, the additional options offered to guests—are going to be a huge help overall in terms of making The Woodlands a major part of tourism in Texas. In a time when tourism dollars are down overall and hotels are left to compete all the harder for those that are left, offering new services and new value is going to be very important. The Woodlands Resort seems to have embraced this concept fully, however, and is doing its best to provide that value.