Customer testimonial

RADISSON HOTELS

Switzerland

6 (CH)

Branches

350 (CH)

Employees

Since 2013

UPC Business customer

Name

Radisson Hotels Switzerland

Sector

Hotels

Branches

6 (CH)

Employees

350 (CH)

Customer since

2013

Key Account Manager

Nenad Stanojevic

nenad.stanojevic@upc.ch

Initial situation

The Radisson Hotel Group is one of the largest hotel chains in the world, with more than 1400 hotels and 100,000 employees in 120 countries. The umbrella brand Radisson Hotels includes the hotel brands Radisson Collection, Radisson Blu, Radisson, Radisson RED, Park Plaza, Park Inn by Radisson, and Country Inn & Suites by Radisson. In Switzerland, Radisson Blu is represented with six hotels and a seventh is under development. One hotel with 330 rooms is located on the areal of the Zurich airport. Here is where the collaboration with UPC Business started in 2013, which was later expanded to include three more locations.


Each hotel is responsible for its own IT environment. The Group operates a data centre in Copenhagen, and the hotels are connected via Internet to its systems. There are binding regulations for the IT standards and processes across the entire Group, but the countries are responsible for everything else. In Switzerland, the Regional IT Manager is responsible for the harmonisation. The local management decides with which hardware and service partners the hotels cooperate for the implementation, though the recommendation of the Regional IT Manager carries great weight.


In early 2013 the unsatisfactory cost situation in the areas of Internet and telephony prompted the IT Manager at the Radisson Blu Hotel, Zurich Airport, to contact several providers. He was looking for an “innovative service provider with highquality products, that understands his company and reacts agilely when a challenge arises”. In addition to Internet and telephony, the offer should include a professional solution for TV. Other requirements: technical competence, attractive conditions, everything from a single source. There were four deciding factors for the switch to UPC Business: one point of contact, flexibility, reliability and good value for money.

Solution

The Radisson Blu Hotel, Zurich Airport, was connected to the fibre-optic network of UPC Business. The Internet bandwidth is 1 Gbit/s and it is used as follows: 700 Mbit/s for the administration and 100 Mbit/s each for guests, Port 3 and back-up. Meanwhile the hotels in Rümlang, Basel and Lucerne have also been connected to the fibre-optic network. Rümlang uses Business Internet with 200 Mbit/s, with 100 Mbit/s each for the administration and the guests. Basel and Lucerne each use Business Internet with 1 Gbit/s, with 800 Mbit/s for the administration and 100 Mbit/s each for guests and back-up.


All four hotels use phone services from UPC Business. Basel operates an IP telephone system with 20 voice channels. UPC Business provides its Business Voice IP PBX service for this, with 8 Mbit/s bandwidth. The other three hotels each use an ISDN system with 30 voice channels each. Business VPN with bandwidths between 2 and 8 Mbit/s was implemented exclusively for telephony at these locations. The Business Voice ISDN PBX service is used at a flat rate in each location. Zurich Airport and Lucerne also use Business Numbers.


Zurich Airport uses TV over IP as well in order to supply the 330 rooms with customised TV and radio programmes.


Extra mile

Technical problems (e.g. the failure of a router) were resolved quickly and unbureaucratically, even outside the support times stipulated in the contract. UPC Business reacted very flexibly to the customer’s needs and made temporary solutions possible, as well as undertaking pilot projects, for example in the area of Mobile Services.


Correct as of: August 2020

«Already after the first talks with UPC Business I had the impression that they understand us and that we are in the best hands here. Value for money, technical competence, short reaction times, stable services and good communication are the highlights of our long-standing partnership.»

Stephan Schönbach
Regional IT Manager Switzerland, Radisson Blu Hotels

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