Average quote price for Hotel wifi install?

[murrayelec]

Just trying to get an idea of what the average hotel wifi installation quote is. Obviously that is a very loaded question and many factors are involved to quote a specific price.

The hotel (Choice hotel brand) I am refering to has been required by their corporate offices to give free Internet access to all guests. He will not be able to charge for access of any type. This hotel is also NOT a business class hotel (his terminology), and he is not currently getting very much demand for Internet services, never the less he is required to install within 6 months.

He has been quoted by an "approved" vendor of the hotel chain over the phone so that quote is not set in stone since a site survey will be needed to verify the quote. I dont think they will have any problem with what they have quoted though.

They quoted him in all generic terms w/out branding:
1 - Gateway
7 - Access Points (recommended 1 for every 20 rooms) he has 135
1 - 24 Port switch
20 - ethernet bridges for guests w/out wifi hardware
plus all of the generic stuff like surge protection, cabling etc...

The hotel operator of course wants the cheapest install he can get. I have done a lot of work for him in the area of surveillance systems, cable TV etc so he comes to me when he needs something like this done. I am pretty sure I can do the install using cost effective easy for him to use Dlink products like the DSA3100, DWL1000ap+, their POE solution and directional antennas. Even this equipment might be excessive for what he "thinks" he wants.

I am just curious what you guys charge for a similar turn-key hotel system like this. Of course there are lots of variables involved but these guys had no problem quoting a price without seeing it so I know their price must be pretty high.

In the end I am going to charge what I feel will do the job, Im just curious what the average is or a good idea what a similar complete system quote will be. Obviously there are many ways to do the install in hotels of this design.

Ive seen people say $3000-5000 here and other forums that just seems too cheap for the nature of a hotel layout. Ive also seen $10000+ which would seem to be too high for his place since he will have no ROI other than guests that might have not stayed because he didnt have it.

Thanx

[wirelessoceans]

Murray,

You are right that is a loaded question.
Few questions and I can back to you with what I would charge...approxamtely!

What is the building construction (ie concrete block, poured concrete, stick frame, etc...) ?

Cable pathways? Are there dropped ceilings or raceway that exists?

Authentication? I think that choice has a policy that guest mac address needs to be recoreded. DO they do this locally or from a central radius server. Or do they want to authenticate the guest to theri folio (ie micros, hobic...) or do they want it wide open (not recommended at all)

How many floors?

Genral shape of the building?

Were are you located?

If you get me most of that info I can get you a more acurate price. Let me guess the "approved vendor quoted about $12,000 plus $400/mnth in service charges ;)
Based on this info that you gave me I would say it can be done for between $6,000 and $11,000 for a professional installation depending on equipment type and the answers to my questions. Just a tip...I do not recommend using D-Link. I know that many people do and their product reliablity and versatility has drastically improved recently, but if you are going to stake your name on it I would go with a commercial level product solution. I could recommend those brands to you privately.....sorry guys but I like to keep somethings secret:D .

Rick

[murrayelec]

Thank you for the reply wirelessoceans.

The building is 2 stories, metal roof, block walls, plastered walls and ceilings all floors. There is no drop ceiling with the exception of the office area which is entirely drop. There is only attic access on 1 of the 3 buildings of the hotel all the rest are sealed.

The building is shaped like a T, with the cable company (where he wants to buy service) line drop and headend in centrally located on the 2nd floor among other rooms such as service closets and telephone.

He hasn’t really expressed too much interest in having coverage in the office area where installation would be extremely easy. He also claims he has no requirements or specifications by corporate other than give free access to your guests.

As far as authentication he wanted something like username/password handout. He could then update user/pass as often as he liked. In fact he stated that the customer was one his own when using the system. He didn’t want to have to provide support other than maybe handing out a wireless bridge for non wifi guests, of that he only specified having 5 on hand. He believes even for the next few years at most 10 people at one time would be using the system.

I understand there are endless variables that only a site survey could satisfy as well as consultation with the owner/manager. Just curious what typical charges were for a system with the type of equipment they specified? Every company has different install styles and use various other materials (UPS, conduits, punch downs, antennas) that make up a companies total install. They also calculate labor at different rates for obvious reasons. I was more interested in candid averages for this type of hotel. I would anticipate a Residence Inn or a La Quinta would be more expensive.

This is a $40+ a night hotel that doesn’t really think his current guest demographic is demanding this service. Now he has to give away access to the entire property with complete coverage. Now contrast that with the more business oriented hotels that need highly reliable, feature rich secure systems.

As far as Dlink, those products were recommended to me by a distributor I use for other equipment. I have read about some of the caveats associated with it, my only intent there was to save him some money. I do intend on giving him an alternate solution and let him decide and understand that he probably should make the investment now and go with a cisco/proxim or other more robust equipment.

Thanx again