Seattle Takes Hotel Industry to New Tech Heights

As one of the core high-tech hubs in the nation, Seattle is making a splash as a hotspot for delivering more diversified research experiences for the hotel industry.

With companies just as Amazon and RealNetworks headquartered in Seattle, and Microsoft in nearby Redmond, Wash., the area has been a leading corridor of high-tech activity as veterans of these companies, along with entrepreneurs coming out of the University of Washington have sprouted startups galore.

Meanwhile, as the emerging research hub of Seattle, the city's South Lake Union area is home to the new headquarters of Amazon.com, numerous biotech companies and one of the country's most wired hotels. Recognizing the ever-growing need for additional bandwidth, the Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle provides guests complimentary access to what has been rated among the fastest Internet service providers in the country to supplement the hotel's other tech offerings.

The option to be connected

"Our guests want the option to be connected, whether they are traveling for business or pleasure," said Kini Parente, director of sales and marketing for the hotel. "We recognize hotel Internet connections, and unexpected Internet connection fees, are a point of frustration for travelers. Connecting with CondoInternet.net positions the property to set an industry standard and provide the best service available to our residents and guests."

Historically, hotels have struggled to keep up with growing demand for bandwidth for guests and conference attendees. As the popularity of file sharing, smartphones, VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) phone calls and video streaming increases, hotels are often unable to provide the bandwidth and connectivity speed expected.

According to Speedtest.net, Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle offers its complimentary ultra-high-speed 100M bps Internet access to guests through the country's fastest Internet service provider, CondoInternet.net.

Moreover, Parente said Condointernet.net can, as soon as possible, provision competitively priced connectivity for up to 1GB per second if a client required this kind of access. And as one of only two hotels in Seattle served by CondoInternet.net, Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle has a clear advantage over competitors when it comes to providing bandwidth for research-intensive events.

"Reliability and bandwidth are in the extreme important for business travelers and those attending events at our hotel," David Sullivan, general manager of Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle, said in a statement. "Guests often need to stream video, collaborate online and share large files, and the hotel is however equipped to meet and exceed the demands of even the most innovation-intensive events."

The Pan Pacific Hotel Seattle's amenities include complimentary wired and wireless broadband connectivity throughout the entire property, a flexible in-room workspace with easy-to-access plugs, iHome docking stations and more.

Press release describing its launch

In a press release describing its launch and new service, buuteeq said hotels today are challenged to boost occupancy rates above the 55 percent average that typifies the industry. Buuteeq was designed to help independent hotels, in particular, raise that number by empowering them with tools to generate digital marketing that reaches guests where near all hotel discovery and buying decisions are made today-on the Web, mobile phones and in social networks.

In fact, analysts estimate that near $30 billion of hotel business was booked online in 2010. And buuteeq's SAAS approach gives independent properties access to a scalable, cloud-based solution that delivers the high level of marketing support before available only from multiple high-cost, single-purpose services, the company said.

The buuteeq DMS is an integrated system designed exactly to address the ways guests search for hotels online. It includes four main elements: a CMS, digital distribution, online reservations and BI, buuteeq officials said. Independent hotels simply upload photos, videos, maps and other assets; enter the room, location, seasonal promotions and other data through an easy-to-use Web-based "back office;" and can choose to populate a variety of marketing channels-Web, Facebook, mobile applications, booking engines and more-with that data using proven formats.

Once hotels populate the CMS, buuteeq automates digital marketing channels, presenting hotel information and images in optimized formats for Web, mobile, smartphone applications, tablets, Facebook, e-mail and search/display advertising, the company said. At this stage based on modern, industry-standard presentation formats or rather than Adobe Flash, all the marketing materials are discoverable through search engines and viewable on all relevant consumer devices, buuteeq said.

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