Robin Hood Inn and Suites

MANAGED WIFI WITH CASTING MAKES THIS INN A HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Open since the 1960s, Victoria, B.C.’s Robin Hood Inn and Suites has become an icon in its area. What was then a quaint roadside inn has expanded to become a resort experience complemented by the surrounding natural beauty and myriad outdoor activities available. Most importantly, the Robin Hood hopes to provide a home away from home experience.

Sam Kirsch has been the general manager of the Robin Hood for over four years, and in that time he’s helped to usher in a new era for the inn through a Shaw Business upgrade in 2019. Though the inn has been with Shaw for over 25 years, updating their connections in order to provide better customer service has made a marked difference.

“It’s a matter of service,” says Sam. “It’s a matter of giving customers a product they can rely on because they're using it all the time.”

With Shaw Business’ Managed WiFi, Sam and his team can connect more seamlessly with each other and with their existing systems. “It’s all about connectivity,” he says. “We ultimately use our WiFi to connect our mobile phones to the property management system, for housekeeping, for everything.”

Staff can log into their own internal WiFi in order to complete duties like marking rooms clean or vacant from mobile devices while they’re on the go, rather than going back and forth to a centralized computer to keep information up to date. “We implemented our own mobile phone at the front desk when I got here,” says Sam. “Guests can video call us, we can text, I can take them and show them the room. That’s what WiFi does for you.”

Efficiency aside, the reliability of WiFi is an absolute must in today’s age, especially in the hospitality sector, with many guests travelling for work, or simply wanting to access the same kind of entertainment they do at home.

For that reason, the Robin Hood takes advantage of their Hotel Managed WiFi’s In-Room Casting feature, which allows guests to cast from their personal devices onto the inn’s televisions simply by connecting over WiFi.

“You can use your laptop, tablet, phone, anything to cast on a big 50-inch screen, which is kind of fun,” says Sam. Guests can pick up where they left off on their own Netflix account, or browse the web on the big screen as a family, all reliably, without lag time, and free of charge. “We want to make things familiar,” says Sam. “If you’ve got Chromecast at home, why should you have to pay for it at a hotel?”

Rather than nickel and dime their guests over faster WiFi speeds, the Robin Hood prefers to stand out with aspects like their high quality beds and linens. In fact, they even run an ecommerce section of their website where you can purchase the exact type of bed from your hotel room.

All these offerings are made possible by a stable, quality network connection. “It’s critical to our business,” says Sam. “We want to make our guests feel good, and sometimes our WiFi speed is faster than what they have at home!”

Though the Robin Hood is a small local business, they strive to offer the same or better service than their larger competitors—and they appreciate when they’re treated as they treat their guests. “Shaw Business gave us really excellent service. We just had to open the doors and walk away, and they did everything,” says Sam. “Shaw Business has delivered, keeping us competitive in value and function.”

Value which Sam and his team at Robin Hood Inn and Suites can pass onto customers and ensure they have the trip of their dreams. “There’s nothing better than seeing someone revived and well slept, ready for a day of exploring,” says Sam. “It’s an authentic experience here, and as a small business you have the ability to do better than just meet someone’s standards.”