New York Palace Hotel Upgrade by Telecom Infrastructure Corp

The New York Palace Hotel is a historical landmark located in Manhattan, one of only two hotels in New York with that designation. The Palace Hotel is an important representation of the architectural history in New York. The structure itself is actually two luxury mansions that were built in 1884. In the 1900s, a 55-story tower was built seamlessly into the back of the mansions to create a luxury hotel.

Over the years, the exterior of the Palace Hotel has been prominently displayed on television and in films. In addition to being a historical landmark, it has been the host to many famous guests. The Palace Hotel has maintained its reputation for luxury accommodations and exceptional service over the years, however, by the year 2012, it had become outdated. Although many guests enjoyed the fact that there was no cell phone service, the Palace Hotel could no longer effectively accommodate the many business people that were regular guests and that held their conferences in its rooms. With today's technology, access to communication devices is an important aspect of business meetings, and to business people themselves. The lack of modern technology caused a loss of business guests to other, more modern, hotels in the area.

Objective

Upgrade the Palace Hotel to include wireless technology so that guests would have access to cell phone service.

Challenge

Because the Palace Hotel is a historic building, the challenge was to find a way to offer modern technology without damaging its décor and the historic structure, or its luxurious atmosphere. The method used was also required to accommodate future upgrades without the need to rewire or install other types of upgrades that would be disruptive to the business.

Due to the age of the Palace Hotel, climate control products had to be installed to accommodate the master processing equipment for the communication systems. The challenge was to install the equipment in a way that did not clash with the décor and architecture, but could be accessed when repairs or upgrades were needed without a major disruption.

Solution

The individual floors were x-ray scanned to ensure that needed drilling would not compromise the building's structure. Each floor was then core drilled so that the TE FlexWave Spectrum distributed antenna system cabling could be installed. That system allowed a network of 152 small antennas to be daisy-chained throughout the structure and 20 remote units to be installed. The signals from that system would be handled through Verizon, but negotiations with AT&T were in the works as a second carrier.

Results

Despite the roadblocks that were encountered due to the age of the building, the results of the project were exceptional. Telecom Infrastructure Corp was able to install the equipment required for the project in a way that was not noticeable and, therefore, left the design and décor intact so that the guests continued to enjoy the historical atmosphere of the Palace Hotel. At the same time, the guests now have access to 21st century technology.