30 I ICT TODAY
The Latest Technology Advancements
in the Hospitality and Wireless Industries
By Kristen Beckman and Tracy Ford
While a worldwide pandemic put some technology improvements on hold during 2020, the need for connectivity
in the hospitality industry—for employees, hotel guests, and back-of-house operations—was underscored during
this unprecedented time. As such, the wireless industry moved forward with plans to deploy fifth-generation (5G)
services into legacy cellular spectrum, as well as new spectrum including Citizens Broadband Radio Service (CBRS)
in the 3.5 GHz band. Supplementing that will be new C-band spectrum, which is expected to be available for
service delivery in December 2021.
With spectrum allocated, the combination of technology updates and progressive regulation allowed new
services to be offered, which in turn helped enable hoteliers to respond to COVID-19 outbreaks quickly with
applications purposed to protect guests and employees. Further, connectivity solutions also have been incorporated
into new construction projects, designed to offer even more connectivity that enable new applications including
virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR). These applications can be used to facilitate efficient collaboration
among trades, provide an immersion into a final product during construction, and subsequently for high-quality
entertainment opportunities for guests.
