While Motel 6 is well known for its cheap travel options including discount hotel rooms and having its rooms included in cheap vacation packages, it is now gaining a reputation for being one of the most tech savvy hotel chains.
Motel 6 announced in January that it has deployed the largest cloud based network in America to provide its guests with wireless Internet access.
Cloud computing is becoming a buzz term referring to a data storage system in which the user accesses data, including Internet services, by way of a enormous remote storage system that pulls together content from multiple sources, maintains firewalls between each source, and makes the storage available on demand.
Motel 6 and many experts in the field claim that cloud computing is the most dependable method of Internet delivery and has the added advantage of lowering the upfront hardware costs for hotels.
Cloud computing cuts hotel capital expenditures relative to a more traditional setup because there is no need to buy, install and maintain a server which most hotels now use to offer Internet connectivity. Cloud computing can cut Internet setup costs by between 30 to 50 percent. Another big plus is a cloud based Internet service can be monitored off site vs. an onsite server based system where personnel must be trained and available to deal with technical issues.
Currently Motel 6 is the only major hotel chain that has adopted cloud computing. However given that hotel developers and operators continue to look for ways to reduce capital expenditures as well as the need for onsite technical expertise, cloud computing is expected to gain favor with hotels, particularly given rising guest Wi-Fi expectations.
Worldwide revenue from cloud computing is expected to triple to $240 billion by 2016 from $77 billion in 2011. www.cheapfares.com