Hospitality businesses have a cost to provide the WiFi service that guests demand; how can that cost be recovered?

Hospitality locations are divided about how to recover the cost of providing the WiFi Internet service for guests. There are three significant costs.

• Amortization of the infrastructure investment.
• Monthly ISP service charge for the Internet connection.
• Maintenance and support, from repairs to helping guests use their smart-phones.

Most hotels offer “free” Internet where the cost of providing the Internet service is added to the room charge and so all guests pay for the cost of the Internet whether they use the service or not. Many hotel guests do not realize that they are paying for the “free" Internet service as part of the room charge.

Many campgrounds and RV parks charge guests who want to use the Internet service. Charging guests is a much fairer method of providing the service, as only the people who use it pay for it. People who don't want to use the Internet get a less costly daily charge. Marinas always charge for the WiFi Internet. Campgrounds, RV parks and marinas that are located in areas with no 5G mobile phone coverage always charge for the service; the guest has no alternative and expects to pay for the service. Businesses in remote locations also have higher costs to provide an Internet service, as they have to contract satellite service providers such as Starlink, and also pay for the higher price data plans that permit a large volume of monthly data to be used.

Businesses that want to charge the guests partially or wholly for the Internet service have several options when using a Guest Internet WiFi controller, which are explained in the following sections.

A 2-tier login, slow speed is free and a charge is made for high speed

Most hospitality businesses provide a free WiFi Internet service without control. People streaming Netflix videos use most of the bandwidth, making the Internet slow for everyone else, and often generating complaints about the slow Internet service. There are alternatives and one popular solution is to provide free Internet with a low speed limit that is sufficient to watch streaming videos. But will leave plenty of bandwidth available for other guests. The Internet speed is good for everyone. In addition the business can add a charge for a faster Internet service that suits both business people who want to upload and download large files, and also the video streamer who wants to watch a chosen video in HD. Business people pay for the faster bandwidth because they are expensing the cost of the hotel and are doing business work with the higher bandwidth.

Guest Internet products include a gateway to PayPal credit card processing and merchants require a PayPal business account to charge credit cards. Although PayPal in not the most popular choice to accept a credit card payment, however it is the only payment processor that offers a service in the 65 countries where Guest Internet products are sold.

An example of a 2-tier login screen is shown in the next figure. The hospitality business can provide a free access code that any guest can use to login to the Internet. This free access code has restrictions for maximum down and up data speeds and can have other restrictions also. To prevent people who are not guests using the open access code it can be changed daily.

The 2-tier login screen is show in the next figure.

When a guest chooses to pay on-line with a credit card then there is a drop down menu with up to ten payment options listed, each option is a time for the duration of access with a corresponding cost. The guest selects the time and cost option and is then transferred to the PayPal payment page. Upon completion of the payment an access code is issued to the guest. The transaction is also added to the purchase report maintained by the Guest Internet controller. 

The next figure shows the PayPal option selection page.

A 3-tier login system to charge for the Internet service

Some businesses require a 3-tier or 4-tier login system, this means that the users have 3 or 4 methods to login to the Internet. This is important for airports where there are many different types of uses of the WiFi Internet service. Examples of a 4-tier login system might be as follows.

• Free login for a limited period (e.g. 30 minutes) that cannot be repeated for a minimum period (e.g. 24 hours).
• Code login that an airline might give to a preferred customer for unlimited Internet use.
• Purchase Internet access using a credit card.
• Login using a subscription service credential (e.g. Boingo).

The default login page can display up to three login methods. A custom login page can be prepared to display more login methods. 

The default login page with three alternative login methods is shown in the next figure.

Charge credit cards online using any payment processor; this is a custom installation for each payment processor

Credit and debit card charges for Internet access can be made using any payment processor. Guest Internet provides both controller and cloud Application Program Interfaces (API’s) and permit any payment processor that provides API’s to communicate with the Guest Internet API’s to charge credit and debit cards through a custom login screen. Each payment processor provides a different set of API’s and so each installation requires some custom programming which has an additional cost. However the benefit for the business is that the credit and debit transaction charges of the preferred transaction provider will be lower than the PayPal transaction charges. The procedure to configure the payment gateway is similar to installing a point of sale terminal, and the requirements of PCI DSS (payment card industry data security standard) must be met.

Payment processors are country specific and so each country will have a custom gateway installation.

The next figure shows an example of a custom login page that might be developed to provide the payment processor payment interface.

Payment for Internet service using alternative methods; Mobile Money

Mobile Money is a popular payment method used extensively in many countries and is an extremely valuable method of payment when the person does not have credit or debit cards does not want to carry cash.

Mobile Money requires that credit be put on a mobile phone account. The mobile phone is then used to make a payment for the Internet service.

The mobile money gateway is a custom installation that integrates with the Guest Internet cloud API and the desired payment processor.

After purchase of the Internet access to user receives an access code via text message. The user can access the Internet many times using the code up to the time and date that the code expires.

The Mobile Money gateways was developed by FlexiConnect and they will implement the gateway for customers. There is an additional fee for the FlexiConnect implementation.

Print vouchers with access codes to sell in the business retail store

A popular method to sell Internet services for business customers and community residents is cash payment for a voucher with an access code. The Guest Internet software is used to print vouchers, each with a unique access code and parameters such as maximum data speed. Sixteen vouchers are printed per letter size sheet, and up to 10,000 vouchers can be printed at one time. There are two methods to print vouchers.

• Print vouchers using the Guest Internet controller firmware. The access codes can be used to access the Internet when connected to that controller.
• Print vouchers using the Guest Internet cloud for a controller group. Any controller assigned to the group will accept the voucher code and provide access to the Internet.

After printing the vouchers the sheets can be cut up to have individual vouchers for sale. The voucher can be sold inside a sealed envelope to prevent the code being shared before the sale.

The process of printing the vouchers is illustrated in the next diagram.

Have an Internet point of sale in the business retail store to charge and provide a receipt with an access code

Guest Internet controllers all contain the software to implement a point of sale (PoS) for a cyber café or any business that wishes to sell Internet access at a checkout. The PoS system can also be used to distribute access codes at a hotel concierge desk. 

The PoS system requires a Guest Internet controller and the Guest Internet GIS-TP1 receipt printer. A tablet is required to display up to ten code buttons and has a specific login for this purpose. Each of the up to ten buttons represents the duration of Internet access with corresponding parameters such as maximum data speed.

The GIS-TP1 receipt format is configured initially with the business name and information. A field is reserved to print a unique access code that is generated for the duration selected.

When a display button is tapped the GIS-TP1 prints the receipt with the access code. The guest uses the access code to access the Internet by entering the code in the login page.

The next diagram illustrates the process of configuration and subsequent generation of printer receipts.

Download access codes to print on scratch-off cards

A method of selling Internet access in retail stores is to print Internet access codes on scratch-off cards. Most people are familiar with scratch-off cards that are used to sell International phone calling. There are many printing forms that can print scratch-off cards. In summary, the artwork for the card has to be prepared and then the cards are printed with the artwork. Subsequently each card has a unique code printed onto it. Finally the code area is covered with a plastic film that can be scratched off with the edge of a coin.

The process of preparing scratch-off cards is illustrated in the next diagram. The codes are generated by the Guest Internet WiFi controller then copied to a flash stick and sent to the printer. The printer can prepare the artwork and then print the codes onto the cards.

Interface your business software (property management system, reservation system) to the Guest Internet cloud to provide access codes for guests

Some hotels, RV parks and campgrounds provide an Internet access code for the guest via the administration software. In the case of a hotel this is the property management system (PMS) software. In the case of the RV park or campground this is the reservation software. 

The property management system interface has the following steps when the guest checks in.

• At check-in the PMS generates an Internet access code.
• The access code is sent to the Guest Internet controller API to activate the code.
• The access code is given to the guest together with the room key.

When the guest checks out the PMS sends the access code to the Guest Internet controller API to cancel the access code.

The RV Park and campground reservation systems will provide the gate key-code on completion of the reservation so that the guest can access the site at any time. The reservation also calls the Guest Internet cloud API to fetch the WiFi access code that is valid for the duration of the guest stay at the site. The access code is provided to the guest on completion of the reservation.

The next figure shows an RV park reservation system where the Internet code is sent to the guest on completion of the reservation process.

Summary

Any business that wishes to recover part or all of the cost of providing the Internet service for guests and visitors can do so through adding one or more of the methods described in this article. Many hospitality business guests and visitors expect to get free Internet, however as noted previously nothing is free, the cost of providing the Internet is added to the daily rate and so the customer pays.

Guests do not criticize the 2-tier or 3-tier payment systems where a free but slow access is provided. Guests are accustomed to slow Internet in hotels. Business users are very happy to pay for the service that gives them much faster access to the Internet.

Guest Internet controllers do all that as described in this article plus much more to ensure that all Internet users get a great service by sharing resources, and by blocking problems that degrade the Internet service, such as computers with viruses.

For any questions about this article please contact us at:
info@wispzone.com