Spotlight ON: Alex Wedesky, VP of Internet Services at Encore

Beyond Bandwidth: Why AI Is Rewriting the Rules of Event Connectivity

A Spotlight Interview with Alex Wedesky, VP of Internet Services at Encore | INSPIRE Luxury Hospitality Conference Speaker Series

Every luxury event planner knows to order enough bandwidth. What most haven't accounted for is that bandwidth is no longer the right metric.

Alex Wedesky, VP of Internet Services at Encore, and the International Luxury Hotel Association's Official AV partner for INSPIRE this December, has watched the connectivity landscape shift beneath the events industry in real time. As AI tools become embedded in everyday workflows, from Outlook's Copilot to real-time transcription and cloud-based collaboration platforms, the way devices interact with hotel networks has fundamentally changed. Most venues haven't caught up.

Wedesky joins the conversation at INSPIRE in Orlando to unpack what this means for planners, properties, and the guest experience. Here's a preview of what he's seeing on the ground.

How AI Turned the Network Into a Continuous Conversation

The shift, Wedesky explains, is architectural. Traditional internet usage was transactional. A device sends a request, a server responds, the connection rests. AI has turned that into a continuous conversation. Devices are now in sustained, back-and-forth dialogue with the cloud, and they're doing it simultaneously, across every seat in the room.

"What was once a single device talking casually to the internet has become many devices conversating with the internet at all times."

The result: the same event, same hotel, same headcount, and utilization that has doubled, tripled, or in some cases gone four to five times higher than the previous year. The tools people brought with them are hungrier than ever.

Bandwidth vs. Network Performance

For two decades, the industry has been anchored to one word: bandwidth. How fast can data move? Speed alone no longer tells the full story.

"When we shift to talking about network performance, that's how many devices it can handle, at a certain speed, doing a certain type of work."

The analogy Wedesky uses is simple: you wouldn't run today's AI-powered applications on the first laptop you ever owned. The same logic applies to the network infrastructure those applications are connecting to. If the backbone hasn't been upgraded to match the demands of modern workflows, buying more bandwidth won't save the event.

What planners need to think about now extends well beyond the internet package. It includes the physical network itself, its capacity for dynamic adjustment, and whether there's on-site support that can respond in real time when unpredictable spikes hit.

The White-Glove Network

The takeaway Wedesky wants planners to carry into their next event: connectivity can, and should, feel like a luxury experience in itself.

Custom network configurations, elevated security protocols, branded splash pages, real-time monitoring. These are extensions of the guest experience, applied to something most people interact with constantly but rarely think about until it fails.

"There's not a lot that's tangible about the internet. But the more we can make it tangible, and use that to drive a very specific and elevated experience, that's what's going to set brands apart."

In a world where every guest is running AI-powered tools from their seat, the network is part of the experience itself.

Hear More at INSPIRE

Alex Wedesky takes the stage at the INSPIRE Luxury Hospitality Conference, Dec 15–16 at the JW Marriott Orlando Bonnet Creek Resort & Spa.