Many motel and hotel owners and managers don’t realize that a good WiFi Internet service is important to attract guests

Hotels that provide poor or no WiFi for guests will lose bookings. Guests who stay at a hotel post reviews, and people looking for a hotel to stay read reviews before making a decision about which hotel to choose.

The quality of the WiFi is high on the list of facilities reviewed. A poor WiFi review equals lost bookings and lost returns. There are still many motels and hotels that fall into the category of poor WiFi Internet.

All motel and hotel owners and managers should read a blog posted by travel expert Samantha Brown, Samantha is an important influencer of travel and hotel choices.

https://www.islands.com/1590983/free-hotel-service-wifi-samantha-brown-travel-expert-trust/

The hotel that provides guest WiFi in the lobby area only will lose bookings and return reservations because guests are unhappy with the WiFi service. Worse; that wireless router is connected to the hotel network without protection, giving any hacker free access to the hotel computers and PoS. The credit card companies are not happy when the hotel connects a wireless router to the hotel network as the guest WiFi is not in compliance with PCI DSS, the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard. Any thief with hacking skills can steal the guest credit card information from the business computers.

How bad reviews from guests can cost hotels more than just bookings

In summary, a motel or hotel that provides only a WiFi router in the lobby for guests has two risks.

• Unhappy guests will post bad reviews, which will persuade potential guests to book a different hotel, plus the guest who posted the review won’t return. 
• The hotel is at risk of data theft, if credit card information is stolen then the motel or hotel faces a big financial loss, plus loss of merchant rights.

Installing a professional WiFi Internet system throughout the property so that each guest has WiFi Internet in the room is a big investment, but one that translates into increased returns with an increase of new bookings.

The return on investment (ROI) for a good motel or hotel WiFi Internet system is short as a few months, and results in increased sales and profits for the motel or hotel owner.

Why do guests need WiFi Internet?

First let's answer the question, why do guests need WiFi Internet? Don’t they have a mobile phone and can connect to the Internet using that?

To answer that question, first be aware that there are two types of guests, business travelers and vacationers. Then there are national travelers and international travelers.

Business guests travel with laptops and tablets that connect to WiFi. Business guests have to work in the room at night, answering emails, downloading proposals, editing documents, etc. Without WiFi they can’t work so won’t book a motel or hotel.

Vacationers want to interact with social media, stream videos, visit websites. Yes they can do this with mobile phones, however many vacationers carry laptops and tablets because they have a business or have to stay connected with work while they travel. So maybe half of vacationers won’t stay at a motel or hotel with poor WiFi.

The national travelers can use their mobile phones to connect to the Internet, however International travelers cannot, few phone companies have international roaming plans and those that do charge large amounts of money for the service. So international travelers will avoid a motel or hotel with poor WiFi.

We can see why a motel or hotel with poor WiFi will lose a lot of business to competitors that get great reviews for their WiFi Internet service. Maybe the owners or managers of these motels or hotels don’t read the reviews about their properties; maybe they don’t interact with social media?

What does a motel or hotel have to do to provide a great WiFi service for Guests?

There are four criteria to installing and providing a great WiFi service.

1. Select an installation company that has a proven track record of installing successful motel and hotel WiFi networks, many IT businesses don’t have that skill set.
2. Select reliable Internet controller and wireless access point products that are popular with a history of successful results with motel, hotel and resort WiFi systems, this means selecting equipment that has no recurring fees, and equipment that is very easy to use by the hotel manager or front desk staff so there is no need to call and pay for a specialist every time that access codes are needed. These products should also provide an easy to use WiFi service for guests.
3. Select an Internet service provider that can provide the data speed for guests so that the guests have a good Internet experience, plan to have 5Mb/s for every room in the property, this means that a 100 room property needs a 500Mb/s fiber connection. This speed can be made up with two Internet providers by connecting them to an Internet controller such as Guest Internet GIS-R6, GIS-R10, GIS-R20 and GIS-R40 with dual Internet connections that has load balance and fail-over. For example, a hotel that has 100 rooms but has an Internet connection of 250Mb/s can install a Starlink antenna with a priority service so that the total data speed is 500Mb/s. Adding a second Internet provider will also improve the reliability of the Internet service as the Internet provider connection is the weakest link. Some hotel franchises require the Guest WiFi installation to have two Internet provider connections for reliability.
4. Allocate a budget for the WiFi network installation and the Internet connections with sufficient speed for each guest room. Check the WiFi service in every room before signing off on the installation and making the final payment to the installer.

Guest WiFi network installation procedure

An example of a hotel network installation is shown in the diagram.

Each property has unique construction characteristics, which means that the WiFi installer needs the expertise to prepare a site survey to identify the locations where wireless access points must be installed. This is the reason that it is important to contract an installation company with a successful track record of hotel installations. If for example, wireless access points are installed along a corridor ceiling then it would be wise to have one wireless access point for four rooms. A hotel with 100 rooms should expect to install 25 wireless access points to ensure that guests get a great WiFi service.

The wireless access points connect to the Guest Internet GIS-R10 WiFi controller, which shares the Internet service between many guests to ensure that all guests get a great WiFi Internet service.

A Guest Internet controller is very popular and has been installed by many tens of thousands of hotels. Hotel staff can make changes to the service when required. The guest Internet controller connects to one or more Internet service providers. The diagram shows an ISP fiber connection and a Starlink satellite service. The speed of the two services is combined for the guests.

What does the WiFi controller do?

The WiFi controller is an essential part of the guest WiFi system and it has two important tasks.

1. Ensure that guests get a great WiFi service.
2. Protect the business from misuse of the WiFi service by hackers or illegal use.

The WiFi controllers manufactured by Guest Internet have 15 features that are essential to meet the requirements of a great guest WiFi service combined with protection of the business. The 15 essential features are listed below.

1. Limit the access to the Internet service by giving guests an access code, when the WiFi has open access then many more people will connect and slow the service for everyone.
2. The available bandwidth is shared by setting data speed limits for each guest, if this is not done then one user can slow the Internet for everyone, or many people will cause network congestion.
3. Optionally set data limits for guests, this is essential when the ISP charges for data use, or else charge guests for additional data use.
4. Prevent abuse of the Internet service as the business will be responsible for copyrighted file sharing or access to illegal websites, the controller blocks protocols like Torrent, and can block websites and website categories that are a risk for the business.
5. Increase the Internet speed by adding more ISP connections, dual WAN with load balance and fail-over.
6. Block guest computers that have viruses, such as DDoS, that will slow the network data speed for all guests.
7. Protect the business computers and point of sale (PoS) with a PCI DSS compliant firewall, prevent access to the business computers from the public WiFi.
8. Brand the customer WiFi login experience and advertise additional services that the motel or hotel provides for guests.
9. Monitor the WiFi service for failure, get an immediate alert if any problem occurs so that a repair can be made quickly.
10. Guest Internet provides a free cloud management service with information and reports about the service use, the cloud can be accessed from any location.
11. Optionally charge for the WiFi service, there are alternative methods with Guest Internet controllers.
1. Charge for all Internet services with the options of on-line credit card payment or the Guest Internet point of sale at the reception desk.
2. Differential charge, for example guest staying at the hotel have free internet and visitors to the conference center can purchase on-line or else purchase a vouchers from the front desk.
3. Two-tier charge, provide a slower speed free service and charge for a high-speed data service with a purchase on-line.
4. Time limited access, where the guest has a limited time free access within a 24-hour period, and after the free period expires purchase access at hourly rates, this method is very popular with airports.
12. Have a dual use WiFi network that is accessed by both guests and staff, the guest and staff are isolated with a VLAN, this will reduce the cost of the network installation.
13. Allow selected website access before login, for example the hotel can allow free access for anyone to open an airline or taxi service website without login.
14. Auto login of a device using the device MAC address, this is required when the hotel has devices that will be connected to the WiFi service, for example TV’s.
15. Where possible integrate the guest WiFi with the business management systems for ease of use. Guest Internet provides Application Program Interfaces (API’s) for integration with property management systems and reservation systems.

Final observations about motel and hotel WiFi Internet installations

Some guests will be familiar with the procedure to connect to the Guest WiFi and some will not. It is essential to provide instructions in each room telling the guests how to connect to avoid frustration. The instructions should include the detail for each type of device.

• Windows laptop
• Apple MAC laptop
• Apple iPhone
• Android phone

The instructions can be prepared by the installation company and printed by the motel or hotel.

The wireless access points for guest use don’t have encryption like wireless access points in a business. This is necessary so that the guests can connect to the wireless access points. This also means that a hacker staying at the hotel or motel can capture transmissions over the WiFi. Unencrypted WiFi is not secure. The instructions for guest use should include the warning that the guest WiFi system is not secure.

The instructions can also suggest that the guest uses a Virtual Private Network (VPN) service when connecting to the guest WiFi to provide security. The companies that manage motels and hotels should have a partnership with one or more VPN providers and offer a discounted service for guests.

For more information, please get in touch with us:
info@wispzone.com