bluegr Hotels & Resorts

Overview

bluegr Hotels & Resorts feature some of the best hotels in Greece, combining their 3 pillars of quality tourism: exceptional service, hospitality excellence, and breath-taking locations. Set at some of the most enviable locations amidst the picturesque towns of Agios Nikolaos and Elounda in Crete, the beautiful island of Rhodes, and the sophisticated suburb of Ekali in Athens, the five bluegr Hotels & Resorts set new standards for luxury holidays in Greece.

In the busy and urban Athens, the 5-star Life Gallery Athens design hotel is considered as one of the best boutique hotels in the city and has also been named the best business hotel in Athens. To maintain this standard of excellence throughout every aspect of the hotel experience, IT Manager Mr. Vasilis Barbas deployed Cisco Meraki access points (APs) for high performance wireless to support a unified network for guests and employees, as well as for the benefits of integration with 3rd party companies, like Facebook.

 

Original networking challenges

• Needed an easy-to-manage network solution to reliably support corporate, guest, and group usage, as well as one that could grow with the company and future marketing trends
• Previous network was difficult to manage and provided minimal, unstable coverage, inhibiting Mr. Barbas’ ability to effectively provide wireless services throughout the property.

Meraki is an innovative solution. The cloud-based infrastructure is a major advantage for any IT Manager, managing and controlling the daily needs remotely, easily, and fast.

Vasilis Barbas

IT Manager

Why Cisco Meraki

• The innovative Meraki solution provides Mr. Barbas with on-going feature releases and firmware upgrades at no additional charge
• Collaboration with 3rd party companies, like Facebook for WiFi login, not only allows the company to run innovative marketing campaigns, but also provides a seamless experience for guests.
• With no IT staff on-site, the intuitive dashboard gives Mr.Barbas the tools to effectively manage and configure the network remotely
  Cloud management provides visibility into users, devices, and applications on the network, as well as detailed control of the APs

 

The deployment

• In half a day, indoor and outdoor APs were installed throughout the hotel, including device configurations through the dashboard
• Barbas employs about 10 of the 15 SSIDs for guests, employees, and various groups, using SSID scheduling to define availability
• Guests access WiFi using Facebook login, which allows them instant connectivity to social media. The hotel takes advantage of this opportunity to raise brand awareness.
• Traffic shaped using per-client bandwidth limits and Layer 7 firewall and traffic shaping rules, including restrictions on file sharing apps

 

Results

• Since deployment, there have been no issues with coverage, signal stability, availability, or overall WiFi service
• Remote management and integrations with 3rd party services allow Mr.Barbas to focus on other IT projects and reduce overhead management
• Guests and employees on laptops, smartphones, and tablets have improved experiences with the new, reliable wireless network
• Barbas is able to access the dashboard at anytime from anywhere, monitor the network, and make adjustments as needed, for instance creating or enabling SSIDs
• Remote troubleshooting tools enable proactive network management, while automatic alerts quickly notify network admins of any potential network issues
• With warranty, 24×7 support, and future firmware updates and feature releases included in the license, the network is always protected and can evolve with the company’s needs