Hotel Casa Berno
“As the ‘Head of IT’, I feel like a weight has been lifted from me.”
Bruno Caratsch, Host, Hotel Casa Berno
The story in brief:
The Hotel Casa Berno in Ascona is constantly updating its ICT infrastructure. Owner Bruno Caratsch wants to equip his business for the demands of tomorrow’s guests.
In the restaurant on the roof terrace of Casa Berno, you can let your imagination take flight. About a hundred metres further down, the waters of Lake Maggiore glisten, the view sweeps south to the Brissago Islands and the intense light transforms the landscape into a magnificent painting. These pleasant daydreams on the roof of the four-star hotel are entirely due to the commitment of the host couple Manuela and Bruno Caratsch. A few years ago they transformed the roof, which had previously been used for other purposes, into an oasis of well-being. Thinking ahead, projecting, modernising: this is important to the owners – and is a steady, natural process.
Casa Berno has been attracting guests who enjoy the peace and natural beauty of this special place since 1962. “We often welcome the third generation of a guest family,” says Bruno Caratsch happily. This development is what motivates him to start work today on the state-of-the-art, high-quality stay of tomorrow. He is clear about one thing: “Digitisation is playing an increasingly important role in this. The guest of tomorrow wants to open their room with their smartphone, get information online, order services directly from their room, and so on.
The speed at which such demands are becoming commonplace is enormous. The hotel industry still has some catching up to do here.” Bruno Caratsch prefers to act rather than react: “To inspire younger guests, we have to move forward. In five years, we want to be at the top level in terms of digitisation.”
“Swisscom Support solves problems in minutes.”
Bruno Caratsch, Host, Hotel Casa Berno
Versatile TV option with in-room hotel guide
As an important first step into the digitalised future, Casa Berno has implemented blue TV Host together with Swisscom and its local partner, Swissbix SA. Since then, guests from Switzerland and abroad have been able to enjoy their favourite programmes, choosing from a huge selection in different languages. As Bruno Caratsch explains, however, blue TV Host can do a lot more: “We can provide our guests with interesting information through our own info channel on the home page of the room devices. Firstly, the virtual hotel guide brings you closer to what is available on the ground, such as the wellness facilities, restaurant, shuttle bus or hiking tours. Guests can also call up the operating instructions for the air conditioning or the full guest information folder using the QR codes displayed. That saves us a lot of time.”
blue TV Host even enables internal events to be broadcast live. “I can well imagine that we will broadcast our jazz concerts live to the room devices, for example,” says Bruno Caratsch. On the other hand, the high-performance guest WLAN, which is also included in blue TV Host, is not part of a future wish-list – it’s already a must-have for any four-star hotel.
Smart ICT – the laid-back, integrated solution for the hotel industry
It’s not just blue TV’s movies that reach Ascona via the fibre optic line that connects the hotel. This line also transfers the hotel’s data. Bruno Caratsch explains: “I’d never have thought that our server would one day run in the Swisscom Cloud.” That is the reality today – the updating of the Internet connection created the chance to reorganise the entire IT infrastructure efficiently.
With its Smart ICT integrated solution, Swisscom operates Casa Berno’s IT in the secure cloud – including automatic backups, protection against cyber attacks and seven Microsoft Office and Exchange accounts for the front office and back office workstations. “Since the changeover to Smart ICT, I feel a weight has been lifted in my role as ‘Head of IT’,” says Bruno Caratsch. “Previously, the vital data protection was quite complicated, particularly in organisational terms. Today, we no longer have to deal with backups and security updates. Even operating our own server sometimes caused headaches. External supporters and software providers often played ‘responsibility ping-pong’. Now, only Swisscom is responsible for managing the interfaces, such as those to the hotel software.
It’s great when the back office runs smoothly: Bruno Caratsch with a member of staff.
Quickly checking the restaurant’s daily menu on the hotel’s own information channel.
More time for the guests: state-of-the-art IT means the administrative work is done faster.
Where dreams take flight: the restaurant on the roof terrace of Casa Berno.
More IT power is a joy
Bruno Caratsch describes another important advantage of the new solution: thanks to Smart ICT, the operating processes at Casa Berno are now more stable. “And much faster – the programmes load more quickly, which our staff really appreciate. Team video meetings were simply out of the question before.” For him, the real highlight is the support from Swisscom: “It simplifies everything tremendously. I have immediate access to a competent contact person who can help me solve problems within a few minutes.”