Tourism’s triple threat: bed, breakfast and broadband
Like many businesses in the tourism and hospitality industry, BIG4 Easts Beach Holiday Park in Kiama (Dharawal* and Wadi Wadi/Wodi Wodi lands) strives to go beyond guest expectations to give them a memorable stay.
As a popular spot on the South New South Wales (NSW) coast for campers, caravans and holidaymakers, the staff at BIG4 Easts Beach know that prompt customer service and guest satisfaction mean everything for their business.
While some of us might associate taking a holiday with switching off from our devices, the reality is quite different for many tourism operators. A high-quality broadband infrastructure is essential to keep guests happy.
“When it comes to having good Wi-Fi, our guests seem to need it almost as much as they do air. They’ll stream music, movies or shows across their devices, or just want to email and share a few pictures of their holiday with family and friends,” says Jennifer Drummond, Director at BIG4 Easts Beach.
“Before we moved to an enterprise grade network solution, internet performance was one of our most common complaints from guests. We knew we had to find a better service that could meet their expectations.”
The right business solution
Negative feedback about the internet performance at BIG4 Easts Beach was beginning to appear in online reviews for the park and impact their excellent ratings.
“Our service provider told us about fibre options with business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet, which sounded like a great fit for us,” says Jennifer.
business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet is a premium fibre-based service that offers high-speed options, with the same upload and download speeds.
Australia’s extensive nbn™ network acts as the digital backbone of Australia, reaching into more regional areas to provide accessibility.
With business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet, this accessibility is helping create new opportunities for a wide variety of businesses, including regional tourism operators. In fact, for businesses, the opportunity to connect to the network is even greater, with an estimated 90 per cent of Australian business premises within the nbn™ network footprint able to access the business nbn™ fibre initiative.#
A different kind of WFH
Once the COVID-19 pandemic lockdowns began to ease, many Australians started to explore their own states for holidays and a new kind of traveller emerged – one who chose to ‘work from holiday’ rather than work from home.
“We did notice an increase in mid-week bookings from travellers who would come and work from the park after the end of lockdowns. They would either be travelling with their family or just set up by themselves, using various spots around the park to jump on to video calls through their laptops and headsets,” says Jennifer.
“They could keep things moving along at the office, and then switch off once the work was done and enjoy the beautiful beach and fantastic facilities that we have here at BIG4. I know where I’d pick if I had to choose between the beach or home.”
With a business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet powered plan, the fast upload and download speeds help remote workers that require fast Virtual Private Network (VPN) connections to connect to the office, or need the bandwidth for regular video calls or more intensive programs and applications.‡
Finding unexpected business advantages
With the increased connectivity across the BIG4 Easts Beach caravan park through a business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet powered plan, the business has found more advantages for staff and guests.
“The increased connectivity throughout the park has really helped us in many ways. Our overall security has improved as we can now monitor more areas like the pool, roads and public spaces.
"We’ve also been able to improve our phone systems, with more phone lines now open for customers to phone in and not reach an engaged signal,” says Jennifer.
Training new staff is easier than before, with access to training-on-the-go through tablets from anywhere in the park. Employees can now learn on-site and in the field, which is easier and more effective than being in the office to go through training modules.
Workplace Health and Safety issues have also noticeably improved. The BIG4 team can now use any device to immediately log and capture potential hazards or maintenance issues anywhere around the park onto their cloud-based system.
business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet has also helped open the door for new opportunities that BIG4 Easts Beach are hoping to explore using Purple Wi-Fi Analytics.
“We’re now looking at ways we can predict some of our guests’ needs ahead of time, which we haven’t been able to do before. We hope to be even more proactive and offer our guests itineraries that closely align with what they want, supported by partnerships with other local businesses that match their interests. I’m excited to see what we can come up with,” says Jennifer.
^ business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet upgrade option is only available on the nbn™ fixed line network and for limited premises in the nbn™ fixed wireless and satellite footprints.
† Previously, BIG4 Easts Beach Holiday Park was on an ADSL connection and then on a residential nbn™ plan that did not suit their needs. It is now on a high-speed business nbn™ Enterprise Ethernet solution based on Class of Service – High from a provider.
* Also spelt Thuruwal.
‡ nbn is very happy with BIG4 Easts Beach Holiday Park’s experience with the nbn™ network. Of course, end customer experiences may vary. An end customer’s experience, including the speeds actually achieved over the nbn™ network, depends on the nbn™ access network technology and configuration over which services are delivered to their premises, whether they are using the internet during the busy period, and some factors outside of nbn’s control (like their equipment quality, class of service, software, chosen broadband plan, signal reception, or how their provider designs its network).
#nbn is a wholesaler and does not control costs charged by service providers. Customers should contact their preferred service provider to ask about any fees and charges from their provider that may be applicable. The nbn™ Business Fibre Initiative is not available for premises that have complex connections and for most premises in the nbn™ Fixed Wireless or Satellite footprints. Further costs will apply to premises outside of the eligibility zone.
Last updated on 26 July 2021