Originally Posted by jerseyfinn

I think that what Marriott is exploring ( and likely other chains ) is the problem of bandwidth. Like all things, the Internet has evolved into something by which many users now DL/UL videos and other bandwidth-sucking content. This in turn slows down the entire network for all users.

I got my first hint of this problem a few years ago when we are staying at one of the Marriott timeshares in Spain where we own weeks. I had a great conversation with the resort GM who tells me one of his resort's big problems was the Internet which was free for all guests and owners. He talks about all sorts of usage and bandwidth issues and how his IT department struggles to accommodate all users. Folks DL videos/movies were sucking up the bandwith and stressing the resorts capacity to provide all guests with reasonably functioning network -- they had recently UG'd the network only to find that usage soon out-stripped IT's capacity again.

The GM was a techno sort of guy and had all sorts of numbers about what was going on. At that time he was only dialoging with corporate, but he did mention that ultimately he and the hotels were gonna have to come up with new approaches to the problem as things were only going to get more intense in the future. One thing he already knew from his own resort research was that a relatively smaller number of guests were sucking up the bandwidth. The problem is identifying those guests and partitioning them so that the general network can function. At that time I tell him the real solution is to provide a reliable (free) base connection for the bulk of guests and to steer the heavy users into a fee based for the bandwidth hogs ( we owners pay annual maintenance fees at our resorts & owners always want to keep cost/service in balance ). The GM laughs and says that I'm correct, but implementing such a solution is easier said than done.

Perhaps this day is looming for hotels and CY is one of the testing grounds for Marriott to address this issue. Once again, I'm an ordinary bandwidth user who doesn't DL movies etc. so all I want is a reasonably functional free connection. As to folks who need more bandwith -- perhaps the days of "unlimited limitless" Internet connectivity are numbered unless one antes up for the convenience.

Well that's my take on what I think Marriott might be pondering here.

barry