Isles hotel is broadband hotspot

The fifteen-bedroom Doune Braes Hotel has become the first Western Isles hotel to offer guests open access wireless broadband.

The hotel, near Carloway on the west side of Lewis, has launched its hotel hotspot after signing up with the new Connected Communities fixed wireless broadband provider, Hebrides.net. Residents and customers are now able to enjoy high-speed broadband connections in hotel bedrooms and in all public areas of the ground floor for free. A desktop computer is also publicly available for a small fee.

As well as being a new selling point for the hotel, the broadband system has also transformed the hotel’s business operations.

Proprietor, Eileen Macdonald explained the development was driven both by customer demand, around 60 per cent of guests are business-orientated, and changing business needs.

“About 80 per cent of our accommodation enquiries come through the internet. We’re now able to respond much quicker than we were before with the analogue system. And if we are able to pick up email and respond quickly we’re much more likely to get the booking,” said Mrs Macdonald.

Until their hotspot was set up, the Doune Braes Hotel was getting by with two dial up connections, as the local exchange had not been earmarked by BT for broadband upgrading. But demand from guests, business and non-business clientele, along with day-to-day running of the hotel made high-speed connectivity a pressing need.

 As far as the Doune Braes Hotel is concerned B&B could now stand for Broadband & Benefits.