Wi-Fi is essentially a lifeline these days. There are apps in endless supply to help you find Wi-Fi hotspots no matter if you are in an airport or waiting in the lobby of a doctor’s office.
Having Wi-Fi is an excellent way to improve traffic to your business but what does it mean for hotels? Today, it’s a key amenity, with the strong majority of guests depending on it for how they prefer to use their laptops, tablets, smartphones, and smart devices.
That’s why offering anything less than a reliable and fast Wi-Fi connection is so risky in the modern hospitality industry…
Can You Afford A Bad Wi-Fi Reputation?
Without a viable Wi-Fi connection, guests are often left less than happy. Dissatisfied guests are more likely to complain, post bad reviews online, spread their opinion via word of mouth, and look for a different hotel to stay at the next time they are traveling.
Common problems include:
- Inconsistent connections and slow speeds
- Unintuitive user interfaces that make it difficult to log in with provided passwords
- Uneven signal strength throughout premises
- Poor security for guest data on the hotel network
Just one of these problems can make or break a guest’s experience at your hotel. That’s why Wi-Fi is so important – however, not just any Wi-Fi solution will do…
What Are The 4 Must-Have Features For Wi-Fi In The Hospitality Industry?
The right Wi-Fi solution will offer a comprehensive range of benefits and solutions, including:
- Managed and Scalable Wi-Fi Infrastructure
Instead of just setting up a few routers and hoping for the best, the right Wi-Fi solution ensures that the specific needs of the business (down to the different areas and demand on the solution) are taken into account.Consider this – what area in the hotel needs the strongest Wi-Fi signal? The upper floors? The pool? Or the lobby?While it could vary location to location, the likely answer is the lobby. The combination of arriving and departing guests, as well as those only there for conferences and meetings, makes the lobby the busiest hub in the whole building.
The right Wi-Fi solution would allow you to scale the connectivity and available speed based on the demand and area. The lobby can be configured to have the greatest availability and bandwidth, whereas the penthouse, gym, and other less populated areas can be scaled back to ensure a better use of your available resources.
- On-Demand Support For Special Events
Beyond the many guests staying at the hotel at any given time, you also need to consider the busier times when hosting a conference, convention, or another special event.Again, depending on the number of vendors, how many attendees are expected, and any other case-by-case specifics, you may need additional routers set-up, new networks created and named specifically for the event, and more.An IT company offering a viable Wi-Fi solution will be able to work with you on each event like a specific project as need be, scaling your available Wi-Fi services to perfectly meet the needs of everyone under your roof.
- Enterprise-Class Security
High traffic areas like hotels, airports, and convention centers are popular among cybercriminals these days. It’s in these locations that people are most likely to connect to an unsecured Wi-Fi network simply because it’s available.By creating a dummy network with a name that’s similar to that of the hotel’s, or the event’s official Wi-Fi, cybercriminals can connect to unsuspecting user’s devices, compromise their accounts, and steal valuable personal information.A key aspect of good Wi-Fi is that it keeps your guests and attendees safe via a range of industry-standard security features, such as password protection and robust encryption.
- aRDHardRegular Hardware Refreshes
It’s unusually common for businesses in the hospitality industry to rely on technology that’s long been out of date. Especially when it comes to Wi-Fi, people will often assume that one router is as good as the next – this simply isn’t true.A core part of good Wi-Fi is ensuring the hardware is continually updated on a regular basis to ensure a high-quality connection and low risk of failure.
What’s The Simplest Way To Implement High-Quality Wi-Fi?
The best way to deliver ideal Wi-Fi to your guests is with support from an expert IT services company – Hampton Roads Communication Technologies. We have the experience and expertise necessary to help you implement a reliable, robust and powerful Wi-Fi solution for your guests.
Don’t forget – Wi-Fi is a given in the business world these days. If you have customers visiting your place of business, they likely expect to have some sort of free Wi-Fi option available to them.
Failing to provide a user-friendly, fast connecting and reliable source of Wi-Fi for a hotel’s guests is basically taken an insult. Even outside the hospitality industry, if a business expects guests to spend time on their premises, they better have Wi-Fi available to them.
Don’t fall short of your guests’ expectations.
