High-speed net a godsend for Sounds resorts

On top of ‘‘breath-taking scenery’’ and ‘‘world-class cuisine’’, Marlborough fivestar resort Bay of Many Coves is now able to add high-speed wi-fi to its attractions.

The retreat has swapped a shoddy internet connection via a very low 3G signal for a high-speed wireless link provided by Picton-based company Soundsnet.

Bay of Many Coves operations manager Danielle Geraets said the bad connection was making business operations difficult.

‘‘Internet was horrendous. We wouldn’t be able to access our bookings, to confirm flights, to see the plan for the next couple of days, we were going blind, and that was affecting our payment processing as well.

‘‘So if someone wanted to check out, we have had to send them an invoice once the internet came back on, a few days later.

‘‘It was just a headache really.’’

Geraets said a decent internet was also critical for the guest satisfaction as they relied on their phones for business and social connectivity.

‘‘Sometimes we have corporate events and the guests would need internet for Zoom meetings or just connecting to certain files online,’’ Geraets said.

‘‘They’ve paid a lot of money to spend a day or two, and if they couldn’t access those files online, that’s pretty crippling for them.

‘‘And also, just because we’re so remote, we have limited-to-zero phone reception.’’

It was also important for the resort staff to be able to clock off work and relax.

‘‘When they don’t have access to the internet, it can get really isolating.’’

Soundsnet owner Rob Browning set up a new network in five Marlborough Sounds’ resorts – Bay of Many Coves, Furneaux Lodge, Punga Cove, Te Rawa Lodge and d’urville Island Wilderness Resort – in the past 12 months.

He said the Sounds were a challenging area to set up communication networks because of the bays and hills.

‘‘There is a lot of helicopter use, at least once every two months, but sometimes more than that, and a lot of climbing.