It happened to all of us – having settled down in a hotel or restaurant to send off some emails or messages, only to be disappointed by the slow or non-existent Wifi.
Due to our more connected lives, remote jobs, and increased ubiquity of Wifi services within the hospitality industry, providing reliable and high-functioning Wifi solutions to your guests is now an absolute must.
Running a business in hospitality works should have you consider that hotel Wifi is now used by guests for an extended range of professions and even reasons.
From catching up with the news or favorite television programs to connecting with friends or sending off important pieces of work information, you must ensure your Wifi won’t be disruptive to your visitors.
In other words, poor hotel wifi can reflect badly on your business and may let you behind the competitors.
At Sbit, we understand that the technology world is moving so fast that wifi equipment becomes quickly outdated.
But a fast and reliable wifi service is a key decision factor for most visitors when choosing where they should stay.
According to a recent survey, more than 85% of all hotel guests carry two or more devices when traveling, demanding a service tailored to their needs and how they use the internet.
Even during low occupancy, you should be able to stay up to date with technology. That’s why we have developed hotel wifi solutions for you to be able to adapt to the ever-changing and growing demanding environments.
The Importance of Fast & Reliable Hotel Wifi
As a hotelier, your primary goal is to provide an outstanding and seamless quest experience so that you can gain brand loyalty and guest satisfaction.
Thinking about how many choices of hotels guests do have, it’s never been more challenging to stand out from the crowd.
But a certain way you can deliver an ultimate guest experience is by providing consistent, easily accessible, and fast hotel Wi-fi.
Whether your visitors are on holiday or on a business visit, they expect to connect, download, watch, play, stream, or work without interruptions or complications.
As long as you’re providing a fast and secure Wifi experience, you’ll obtain loyal hotel guests who would be looking at making repeated bookings and referring your business to their family, friends, or colleagues.
On the other hand, Wifi for hotels doesn’t only impact your visitors’ experience but your hotel operations as well. Your business relies on secure and seamless operations to provide premium guest services.
A slow network will negatively impact the efficiency and speed of your hotel’s operations and undeniably affect your employees and visitors. All the technology may depend on your hotel Wifi, from web-based platforms to credit card machines, tablets, PMS, CCTV, concierge service, or remote check-in.
You could deliver excellent hotel Wifi to both your guests and staff with wifi access points.
They are wireless network devices that can extend the wireless coverage of an existing network, increasing the capacity for additional users without compromising the internet speed.
Usually, a single access point can support between 20-100 devices; the average user has more than three devices (laptop, smartphone, tablet). Ideally, you should have hotel Wifi access points to cover your hotel’s areas.
You can easily ensure safe, fast, and strong Wifi by installing multiple access points.
Depending on your hotel’s size or the property’s layout, you may need an access point per guestroom.
The Most Common Wifi Design Mistakes
If you plan to upgrade your hotel’s wifi network or open a new business in the hospitality industry with top-of-the-line high-speed wifi solutions, you are not alone.
But if you consider installing internet at your hotel using the local vendor and pricing you have at home, please think again.
To ensure and maintain reliable and fast internet connections throughout your public areas and guestroom, you must find the right hospitality Wifi solutions and avoid the most common wifi design mistakes, including:
#1. Failing to Invest in the Right Hardware
Until very recent years, the demand for Wifi was minimal; how things have changed! With more than 56% of business travelers noting that fast and free Wifi is the most crucial factor in picking up a hotel, customers now expect nothing but free and quick Wifi.
They may want to connect multiple devices simultaneously (laptops, smartphones, voice assistants, gaming systems, or more).
This means that lobby hotspots are no longer sufficient. Instead, you may need to install multiple wifi access points to handle your guests’ wifi demands.
#2. Insufficient Bandwidth
Your Wifi will need to accommodate high-bandwidth services and multiple devices, including streaming video, voice messaging, or gaming.
Additionally, your hotel staff may need a great amount of bandwidth on a separate network.
A wifi solution would be to design two systems, one for in-house services and one for your visitors, with both including a combination of Wifi and hardwired access points.
#3. Two Systems, But Only One Network
While you may need to have two separate systems, there should also be multiple networks or channels to deliver the suitable signal bandwidth and strength.
If every guest is on the same network, your Wifi will eventually collapse.
But this is where things get really tricky, as every network within a system has to have a channel plan to avoid Adjacent and Co-Channel Interference (CCI).
This brings us to the 2.4GHz vs. 5GHz controversy.
Most customers still use both 2.4GHz and 5GHz devices, but 2.4GHz can create a severe security risk and slow down the entire network with a single device.
A solution would be to design got 5GHz while turning off about 50% of your 2.4GHz radios.
#4. Wrong Access Point Placement
To function properly, the access points need a clear line of sight.
Avoid hiding them in corners, behind potted plants, or above ceiling tiles; these placements will interfere with connectivity.
In fact, remember that access points stay at the heart of your guests’ wifi experience.
Blocking the path to access points may disappoint your visitors because of a poor and slow wireless internet service.
#5. Not Meeting Your Guest Connectivity Expectations
It’s fair to say that starting from the colors of the walls down to the wifi design centers around the hotel guest experience.
Just like in any other industry, hotels are now competing against companies like Airbnb.
Suppose your visitors can’t connect to the Wifi quickly, or they experience a poor wifi connection or fee-based Wifi.
In that case, your hotel may lose its trust and ultimately reach poor recognition.
Try to provide free public Wifi to all your customers and design reliable and scalable networks that should not only meet your customer demands but exceed their expectations.
When needed, provide ongoing wifi upgrades and ensure regular maintenance.
Hotel Wifi Best Practices & Wifi Hotel Solutions
Undoubtedly, boosting your internet and server capacity will deliver fast and strong Wifi to your guest.
However, using a system designed for, let’s say, offices instead of a custom hotel wifi solution may lead to other issues.
Simply replacing your router or access point may not be solid and secure enough to ensure a reliable connection.
Even more, it would be best to consider every network component function integral to the bigger picture, so a poorly configured system can create further problems.
Thankfully, the last wifi solutions use network custom-designed network diagram and network intelligence.
Besides real-time monitoring, you’ll optimize your network for excellent performance year-round. You could set up your wifi system using the following practices:
Choose the Right Partner
It’s not a simple task to design, deploy, and manage large-scale wireless networks. That’s why you need a trusted and experienced partner by your side.
At Sbit, we have the knowledge and experience to provide you with the perfect hotel Wifi solutions to meet your needs and requirements.
We know the hospitality industry is constantly in motion, day and night. It only makes sense for us to be there for you 24/7, day in and day out.
In most cases, we don’t even need to come onsite because we can solve the problem straight away, as your ICT network can be managed remotely.
Furthermore, we can monitor, support, and manage all the devices connected to a network cable.
Because our active monitoring issues are actively noticed, we can work things out immediately. As a provider of services ourselves, we understand your hotel responsibilities.
That’s why we’re striving to solve all the ICT problems before they turn into real issues.
Run Up a Hotel Wifi Site Survey
When you’re installing Wifi in your hotel or restaurant, conducting a hotel wifi site survey is vital.
It will help you prepare for the wifi installation by offering insight into the channel configuration, capacity expectations, coverage, and the perfect access point placement.
It would be best if you had a clear understanding of the various types of devices that will be setting up your wireless network.
You will also need a plan according to the applications used (PMS, Skype, social apps, email, or streaming video apps).
Considering all of these factors during the wifi design phase will help you with the context needed to deliver the right performance level.
Run a Hotel Wifi Installation During the Off Season
Installing a hotel wireless network can be challenging, time-consuming, and quite loud.
This means that the installation may interrupt your guests’ stay and ultimately lead to negative reviews.
If possible, try to handle your hotel wifi installation during the off-season for a more efficient and quicker process.
If your hotel is open year-round, you may need a strategy so that you won’t disturb your visitors. This may conclude temporarily closing parts of your business or working odd hours.
Ensure an Excellent Hotel Wifi Security
Under no circumstances should you forget about security. Security is an excellent concern for public network users and should be your utmost priority.
But how do you secure the incredible amount of various types of devices?
You must do everything possible to maintain your wifi security to its highest standard. To guarantee a secure wireless network and to safeguard your customers’ personal information enables a virtual local area network (VLAN) per room or device.
Ensuring VLAN for every device will disable communication between various devices connected to your wifi network.
Failing to provide basic security standards would mean that your guest would have access to your hotel network and each other’s personal files.
Secure and seamless wifi service now equals customer satisfaction in the hotel industry.
According to a security report from Trustwave, the hospitality industry has the 3rd highest number of data breach investigations.
The most common causes are poor security practices and point-of-sale system flaws that get to expose credit card information.
These security weaknesses turn hotels into some of the most attractive targets for cybercriminals.
Moreover, the tendency to use the same hardware and software at all locations makes it simpler for hackers to deploy their cyber attacks at multiple hotels once they access one location’s network.
Use a Provider With Comprehensive Support Options
Using a provider with 24/7 services to monitor and fix your wifi issues at any time is vital.
Here at Sbit, you can be confident that we will get your guests connected to a fast and secure wireless network.
Our top-priority goal is to provide accurate, friendly, and brand-specific support and respond to your needs immediately.
Most of our calls are answered within 10 seconds, as we want to ensure an uninterrupted experience. You’ll also have full transparency into how every issue has been resolved, and we’ll help with problems beyond your borders.
Our 24/7 monitoring software will immediately identify when there is a problem or if your network is down.
We’ll troubleshoot any issue for you and do our best to coordinate an immediate repair.
A team of experienced and dedicated professionals is ready to serve you anytime.
Block Content to Compromising Material
While some quests may want to use your hotel wireless network for less ethically or legally questionable materials, it is your right to prevent them from doing so.
Before opening your wifi network to your visitors, please make sure you include a stringent content block.
How Sbit Helps Hotels with Wifi
When you contact us, we’ll provide you and your business with ICT facilities and connect you to the digital era.
Here at Sbit, we can install a brand new infrastructure for any hotel with various sub-systems, including an IP camera surveillance system, Wifi for your guest and staff, VoIP telephony, and IPTV in every guest room.
Our systems are among the most trustworthy and secure in the hospitality industry. Every design will be connected to its own VLAN to rule out interference.
Moreover, the guests’ wireless system is separated from the office network, only employing a VLAN in the switches.
Even the most technical difficulties can be fixed within minutes without an onsite interruption.
Right from the start, we have seen an industry need and have striven to solve any problem. We have created Sbit for one reason: Reliable and Secure Hospitality services.
By providing customized hospitality solutions for over two decades, Smith has become a leading hospitality ICT provider, serving hotels and their guests 24/7/365 with innovative, smart, and digital solutions in Europe.
The way our team works is simple: we want to create less work and downtime for our customers while using a secure and safe ICT environment.
We are familiar with all hotel wifi aspects within the hospitality industry. We focus on high standards combined with practical and strategic solutions.
Besides ensuring you are having a good night’s sleep, we guarantee that your guests and employees feel safe and are treated with excellent care at all times.
Whether you are just releasing your hotel brand or looking to expand your business, we interconnect with your ambitions and propose innovations you otherwise wouldn’t think of.
While we understand that hotel wifi is a critical feature, so should you. The more smart devices connect to your hotel wifi network, the faster your network issues will magnify.
Don’t let this happen.
Wifi should support your guests’ needs and staff’s operations demands with minimal downtime. Be sure to choose Sbit to build you a custom wifi infrastructure to support coverage, range, and overall wifi performance.
Doing so will provide the ultimate guest experience while future-proofing your business for upcoming digital innovations.
If you’d like to change your wifi network, adjust your system, or install a brand new wifi infrastructure, get in touch with us today.
Our team is here to answer any of your questions and address your hospitality ICT concerns.
We will be more than happy to help you overcome any of your challenges so that you can set your hotel above the competition.
