Hotel chain implements thin-client technology, speeding Internet access to rate-setting and other applications for its 4100 hotel owners.
Best Western International, the world’s largest hotel chain, with more
than 4,100 hotels in 80 countries and territories, was faced with a problem as
it moved its host-based applications to the Internet: speed.
The hotelier’s primary applications, including those
for updating room rates, setting availability and analyzing statistics, are
hosted centrally on its MemberWeb intranet and accessed remotely by its farflung
franchises via an aging, slow VSAT network. As a result, they faced performance
problems when they tried to do even simple tasks.
Rather than upgrade to a
more expensive frame relay network, Best Western decided to
standardize on thin-client software offered by Nexaweb. Nexaweb&singlequot;s Rich Internet
Applications software is designed specifically to help companies who need to move traditional
mainframe or client/server applications to the Web.
How it works
Rather than sending an
entire Web page to or from the central office, the Nexaweb applications send
only the information that is changed on the MemberWeb site, significantly
reducing the bandwidth required and speeding up the process. The Nexaweb
software also does more processing on the client side, and uses a
combination of intelligent caching and compression to make the process even less
bandwidth-intensive.
Mike Kistner, Best Western CIO and vice president, said this lets users
be more productive updating room rates, setting availability and analyzing
statistics. The ultimate result? Best Western’s staff is freed up to focus on
service, significantly increasing hotel guest satisfaction, he said.
"Delivering rich, responsive Web applications to thousands of
geographically dispersed properties using traditional Internet tools and
methods, such as via satellite, proved inadequate for us," said Mike Kistner,
Best Western CIO and vice president. "Nexaweb was able to help us deliver
significant cost savings while enhancing overall system performance."
Best Western has already seen ample returns on its Nexaweb investment.
Early usage tests show performance improvements of 87%, network traffic
reduction of over 90%, and a marked increase in franchise
satisfaction.
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