Many guests today expect to be able to access the internet from a laptop or mobile device while staying at a hotel. They also expect an internet connection to allow adequate portability, stability, and security. For hotels to succeed on all of these fronts, knowing a few key points about how to implement WiFi technology in a hospitality setting can provide an extra boost to your customer service.
Wondering how you can go about delivering the kind of hotel WiFi guests will love? Here are a few tips that can be helpful in establishing an effective system.
Use Enterprise-Level WiFi Hardware for Your Hotel Network
Whether at a small B&B or a large hotel, WiFi’s basic technology is essentially the same. Both typically have many more devices connected to their wireless network, though, and many hotels can be much larger than a house. Device traffic and building size can affect the quality of a WiFi connection, and both can be addressed by using enterprise-level networking hardware.
Companies like Samsung and Ubiquiti offer specialized hardware that can be used to establish quality WiFi in even very large hotels. If you want to add WiFi to the hotel you open or work at after your studies, the purchasing strategies and techniques you learn from your hospitality management program will help you sort through the options and find the best choice. You may want to consult with a networking expert, though, to get a proper idea of what your specific location needs will be.
With High-Quality Networking Hardware, You Need a Strong, Expensive Connection
No matter how strong a router is, the connection it offers will largely depend on the strength of the internet connection feeding into it. In hotels, dozens, or even hundreds of devices can be browsing the web or streaming music and video at any given time. It takes a very strong connection, with lots of bandwidth, to ensure fast loading and buffering times for all of these people. A networking expert will again be the person to turn to for assistance in figuring out how much bandwidth you need. Use the communication skills you gained in your training to ensure that you get the proper network for your guests’ needs.
Make WiFi Security a Priority
Convenient, powerful WiFi is a great thing for hotels to have, but security is also important. Many hotels, however, offer little or no WiFi security, making it easy for wrongdoers on the hotel network to gain access to guests’ devices or information. The hospitality industry’s WiFi security history is so poor that the US Federal Trade Commission released a report recommending guests think twice before using their hotel’s internet at all.
Your hospitality training will place a good deal of importance on establishing security in a hospitality setting, and making WiFi safe is an important part of doing so. Making it so that guests must log in with an assigned username and password can dramatically improve WiFi security in your hotel. Using encrypted hotspot technology, which makes it more difficult for network users to access information on other users’ devices, can also help boost your hotel’s security efforts.
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