7 tips for guests WiFi hotspots in the hotel

It is no surprise that guests must be offered WiFi in the hotel these days. For many people, it is now part of the basic equipment in a hotel. However, it is not an isolated case that old and outdated systems are used in hotels. We'll show you what guest WiFi in hotels and guesthouses should do today and what needs to be considered. Because only with the correct use of a WLAN system can you impress your guests.

In order to illustrate the relevance of well-functioning guest WiFi access, after a Study by Statista found out that the most important service when staying in a hotel is the free WiFi hotspot with a good Internet connection:

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In the following, we give you 7 tips on what you should consider as a hotel operator in order to offer a good guest WiFi system:

1. Easy login

Logging in should be as easy as at home for your guests so that they feel comfortable with you. Nowadays, it is simply out of date to have complicated logins. Therefore, try to make the login as easy as possible for the guest. This results in fewer technical problems and happier guests. Your guests don't want to enter long passwords, but want to log into the guest WiFi hotspot themselves and quickly. You can use the following login options for this: Facebook login, email login or WhatsApp login.

2. Hotel WiFi coverage

In large hotels or guesthouses, one router will not be enough to cover all rooms and areas. Take advantage of professional solutions that can be extended and adjusted at any time. We recommend that you set up logic with several professional extensions/access points in a monitored system. This requires a wired infrastructure to establish the best possible connection.

In principle, Socialwave can build on any network, provided that there is technical access to all areas. In larger hotels or new openings, it is always recommended to set up the network from the start with centrally controlled administration and set up all access points uniformly. Socialwave recommends Unifi Accesspoints from Ubiquiti.

3rd bandwidth

In general, it is not possible to say anything about the required bandwidth for the corresponding installation. It always depends on the number of your guests in the hotel and their surfing behavior.

To find out whether your bandwidth is sufficient, specifically for your case, we always recommend a personal consultation. We are always available to you for this purpose.

To get a general first impression, here are a few guidelines (Source: PC world): Youtube generally works from just 2 Mbit/s, in Full HD it should be around 6 Mbit/s and for 4K 16 Mbit/s should be available to play it smoothly. Messaging sites, WhatsApp and even Skype calls only require a fraction of them. Even with half a MBit per user, you can do just fine with this. Using this formula, for example, you can serve around 100 guests with 50 MBit.

Every hotel operator has certainly heard from their guests that the Internet is slow or breaks down again and again. However, it is often not due to the bandwidth itself, but to the WLAN system that was installed in the house. Our recommendation: Rely on professional hotspot providers to offer your guests (especially in hotels) the best possible service and don't skimp on hardware.

Here and there, especially in holiday areas, it can also fail due to the Internet expansion itself. Unfortunately, there is still significant potential for expansion in many areas. So always get detailed advice from both your provider and the hotspot provider and show yourself all options to set up the best possible network.

4. Legal certainty

The legal situation is still ambiguous, which is why you still need to protect yourself with professional hotspot providers. Although liability for malfeasers has been abolished, there are further hurdles as a result of the GDPR. You can also find out more about legal certainty over here

5. Data protection

Whenever sensitive customer data is involved, our advice is to protect yourself as best as possible. If you want to offer a guest WiFi, it is important that you have access to all customer data (e.g. name, date of birth, MAC address, etc.) in order to be able to prove how it occurred in the event of misuse. You can also read more about this over here

With Socialwave guest WiFi, you are on the safe side. We store all customer data securely and complete order data processing with our customers in order to secure all data protection issues. Socialwave therefore takes care of all data protection issues for you.

6. Free guest access

Offer your guests free WiFi in the hotel to round off their stay at your hotel. Of course, this also increases the satisfaction of your guests and at the same time increases the recommendation rate of your hotel via popular portals such as Tripadvisor or Yelp.

7. Optimum benefits for both sides

With Socialwave, you combine the use of free WiFi for your guests with your benefits as a hotel operator - the Social media and referral marketing.

For example, when logging in, your guests share a status message defined by you or like your Facebook page. It is also possible to stay in touch with your guests via email or WhatsApp marketing even after logging in. All settings of your WLAN network can be personalized to your hotel or pension and can be set as required.

conclusion

So use a modern WLAN system with professional hardware and software and get a non-binding offer create for your hotel or vacation rental.

With our WLAN marketing package, your customers/patients/guests advertise for you, are happy and recommend you to others.