Hotel Network setup help (cabling, APs, etc)

Hello, I have a cousin who owns a small hotel with bungalow style rooms.

Currently the rooms do not have internet and we are working out a plan to fix this. It goes without saying that we want the network and WiFi to be robust but save as much as we can.

The hotel is made up of 6 building complexes, one of them being the central one where the current networking gear is.

My plan is to run fiber directly from the main building to 3 of the others, leaving two more to be daisy-chained to the main building via one of the 3 connected to it.

Photo for reference:

The red highlights are possible switch locations.

Buidling 1 is main, building 3 is going to be connected to 1 through SMF and so are probably buildings 2 and 4. That leaves buildings 5 and 6, as well as the pool area.

I am trying to use as few switches and APs as I can. If you have a look at complex number 4, you can see it is comprised of 4 buldings, each with 4 rooms in a 2x2 configuration. So, complex 4 ends up with 16 rooms, 8 ground floor and 8 1st floor rooms.

APs are either going to be Unifi or TP-Link EAPs. My first problem is wether I can get away with a single Unifi AC-LR or EAP225 for every building (i.e. 1 AP per 2x2 room configuration), If I need two APs per building or if I should use in-wall APs possibly one for each room (with cost going way up). I would like your feedback on that.

My second problem is number of switches. I need one for each complex 1, 2, 3 and 4 and I am debating on what I should do with 5 and 6. I can either connect complex 6 to complex 5, which means I need one switch for each one of them but I can save up on fiber cost, or I can connect complex 6 to 4, needing a longer fiber cable but possibly using the switch on complex 3 and running copper ethernet underground to each AP in building 5. Or I can get away with switches in 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 and run copper from 5 to 6 to each AP.

I am planning on using used Brocade ICX 6430 or 6450 PoE switches which cost around 200EUR.
100m OS2 fiber costs around 100EUR and Outdoor Cat5E costs around 20EUR/100m. OM3 is more expensive.

Measurements:


I don’t own any hotels but I do own an EAP 245 access point. I would suggest this model over the 225 as it has a second ethernet port which will allow you to daisy-chain another access point. I did see they have a new model coming out probably to support WiFi 6. The 245 also includes an injector (at least in the UK) so you could then just use a normal switch however, I suspect a proper poe switch is your best bet.

I wouldn’t want to make any claims regarding signal strength but in a standard home I’ve not had any issues.

I would also add that the TPlink portal is ideal for a hotel scenario, vouchers can easily be generated and issued to guests. You can issue one ticket and set the number of devices that can use the same code which saves on paper :slight_smile:

I have never used the TP-Link wireless, but we have installed plenty of UniFi AP’s. The UAP-AC-IW-US work well for setups like this because you get both WIFi and some switch ports.