Why Hotel WiFi Makes or Breaks Guest Experience

For hotel guests, WiFi is second in importance only to clean sheets.

A 2017 Qualtrics Hotel Pain Index Study resulted in 65% of respondents citing great WiFi as a main reason for a positive experience at their last hotel stay, even going so far as to say that it was more important than free food. The only response that ranked higher than WiFi was having a clean room, which was rated most important by 76% of hotel guests.

If guests can’t get a strong, dependable WiFi connection – for all of their devices and streaming needs, everywhere on the hotel property – they aren’t likely to come back. What’s worse? They’ll likely leave the hotel a bad online review.

How to deliver a network with reliable connectivity will be a popular topic at HITEC 2018, the world's largest hospitality technology show which brings the brightest minds and hottest technologies to one place. At the annual conference in Houston, TX, June 18-21, we’ll be talking with hoteliers at Booth 425 about how the right digital infrastructure can keep guests so well-connected that they’ll be inspired to write positive reviews. Here are the challenges hotels face in delivering the WiFi experience guests expect—and how to overcome them.

Challenges for reliable connectivity

If it were possible to take a virtual walk around a hotel property and visualize the radio frequency airspace and incoming and outgoing wireless traffic, it’d be easy to see the problem right away. An influx of devices competing for connections. Thick, concrete walls obstructing signals. Dead spots in unexpected places, dropping guest connections.

These problems make for a frustrating guest experience as they wander around the property looking for a strong connection or sitting in front of the TV waiting for video to stop buffering. As guests experience this problem and take to online review sites to voice their criticisms, they’re affecting future business.

The same Qualtrics study determined that the most common way to decide which hotel to stay at for 67% of guests was to read guest ratings and reviews online. Something that can translate into painful loss of revenue.

Another network challenge: Unscheduled network downtime is guaranteed to have an effect on the way a hotel operates as well as making a dent in a property’s bottom line. If a hotel can’t receive and process online bookings, it’s going to miss out on potential profits. And worse, the same property could see an influx of complaints both from booking blunders and guest outages, affecting the property’s reputation before guests set foot indoors.

How to overcome WiFi challenges

Spectrum Enterprise offers fiber Internet, managed WiFi, HDTV and hosted voice communications services to meet guest, brand, property and staff needs – all from one provider with local teams experienced in hospitality. Learn how a scalable fiber internet connection can make your guests feel at home during their next hotel stay here.

Added benefits of fast WiFi: beyond the guest experience

Still unconvinced of the need for reliable WiFi? WiFi is not just an amenity for guests.

It can improve every aspect of a hotel, from temperature control to express check-out. WiFi can alert housekeeping to empty rooms, and once cleaned, give the front desk real-time updates as to which rooms are ready for check-in.

While this functionality may go unmentioned if it’s working 100%, any hiccup in this process turns happy guests into angry reviewers because WiFi is an experience they expect.