6 tips to make your guest WiFi a success factor

How to get the most out of your guest WiFi!

WiFi as a technology is already over 30 years old, and it is still the go-to choice when it comes to HSIA and straightforward, high-performance internet access. What looks so simple at home, however, is significantly more complex in the case of a public hotspot and involves considerable effort.

In return, guest WiFi offers opportunities like hardly any other medium (spoiler: tip #6 may be the most important of all).

Is there a more direct digital customer touchpoint than an on-site user, smartphone in hand, looking at the login page? Of course, the rest of the customer experience should also be consistent and meet expectations—and that has a lot to do with a professional concept.

Please read our 6 tips carefully. You will see that they are easy to implement and have great potential to significantly improve your guest WiFi.

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#1 – A job for professionals

Would you consider planning a complex building without an architect? Hardly. Perhaps you can still order a single-family home from a catalogue, but even then you need at least a master builder to carry out the work.

With WiFi, it is similar. It is a radio technology and therefore a complex matter that is difficult for non-experts to fully understand. It is by no means enough to mount access points on every corner and hang up a series of repeaters.

Before you spend any money on hardware, a professional will first analyse the so-called site survey. This takes local conditions into account, such as the building structure, but also where and how many connections are expected with which data rates, etc. With their expertise, a professional designs the best possible guest network for you—saving you hard cash, and a lot of hassle or poor reviews from dissatisfied guests.

Tip 1: Before you provide your property, your school, the hotel, a retirement home or nursing home with WiFi, take the time and let professionals do the work. As this is a significant investment in most cases, this step should definitely be done in advance.

#2 – Take a methodical approach

If you have not yet taken the time to consider what exactly you want to achieve with your WiFi offering, a professional will now require this from you. Every hour you invest in a concept for your WiFi will pay off many times over.

The key cornerstones are:

• Who uses the WiFi? Booked guests, walk-ins, employees, day visitors, etc.
  This determines whether and how precisely it is verified who these guests are, and also which use policies should apply to them: authentication, unrestricted access, web filtering, acceptance of terms, payment, etc.
• How many guests will be online at the same time? On arrival days, at events, during business hours, … The performance of the infrastructure must be aligned with this maximum. In the same context, it is also important to consider what expectations guests have when they go online. Infrastructure and uplink must match the expected data rates. Are email and social media sufficient, does a learning platform need to be reachable, or do streaming services need to run? Professional software tools such as IACBOX make it possible to manage expectations, for example via Basic and Premium tickets, free or paid, etc.
• How should the company interact with users? Branding on the login page, content provided for everyone, redirects to surveys/offers, etc.

Tip #2: Take the time to develop a well-thought-out concept. It always pays off: optimised functionality, maximum benefit for the operator, improved guest satisfaction, and an excellent communication and marketing tool.

#3 – Stay independent!

Depending on the scope of the WiFi project, a comprehensive system architecture may be required, with servers, multiple access points and switches. To ensure this investment is sustainable, you should check:

• What needs to be considered if the infrastructure changes: extensions and additions, a new outdoor area, etc.?
• Is the infrastructure scalable—can different brands/models be combined without loss of functionality?
• Can the WiFi software used to manage guest access continue to be used if you change brands, and can it be expanded if user numbers increase—and can it be integrated with other software tools such as CRM, PMS or user-data backends?

Whenever possible, it is better to rely on a solution—both for individual hardware components and for the software gateway—that works in a vendor-agnostic way.

Tip 3: Rule out potential vendor lock-in from the outset. This will save you time, money and stress. Keep in mind that your software investment not only keeps you flexible across different hardware systems, but also ensures your trained staff remain competent in the long term.

#4 – Imagine: John Lennon’s WiFi

You know the situation: During a stay at a city hotel, when searching for available WiFi networks your smartphone shows a selection from “Hilton 1” to “Hilton 5”—often even those of the neighbouring Novotel. How convenient it is when you have been told in advance what the guest network is called—or, even better, when you can tell from the name which one will give you access: “Hilton 5th floor guest WiFi”.

The network name, also called the SSID (Service Set Identifier), therefore plays an important role. For the end user—whether a hotel guest or a museum visitor—the WiFi name should be unambiguous and easy to identify. Some devices and/or software, such as IACBOX, also support multiple SSIDs, allowing you to offer different virtual local area networks (VLANs).

Because the purpose of the WiFi is not always access to the entire internet. It may also be limited to specific areas (learning platforms, patient information, online ordering or reservation systems, etc.). This should also be recognisable at first glance for the guest or user: “Online reservation” or “Patient portal login” would be examples.

How would John Lennon have handled it if WiFi had existed back then? “Backstage VIP access” would have said it all on tour, or “Abbey Road fan page” in the studio. At the London residence perhaps “Yoko only”? Who knows.

Tip 4: Let names speak for themselves and name your WiFi SSID so that it is easy for the respective target group to recognise. Follow the three golden rules for the perfect SSID. Your professional will help you with this, but the meaningful naming should come from you.

#5 – Optimise the available bandwidth

Even in the age of data flat rates, not everything that glitters is gold. Internet service providers like to advertise with superlatives, but in very few cases do these match reality 100%.

When providing WiFi internet access, it is particularly important to allocate the available bandwidth in such a way that as many guests as possible receive enough to meet their expectations. It goes without saying that streaming services consume more than simply checking email. So it plays a decisive role how many and which connections are to be expected simultaneously in your guest network. A professional will also help you here with their assessments.

And as soon as it is clear that limited resources need to be allocated, a professional WiFi gateway helps you apply different user policies. A budget booker may not be allowed to consume as much as a premium guest, and perhaps no data-intensive software updates or WiFi calls—intended only to reduce the load on mobile network operators—should run over your network. The configuration options of intelligent captive portals such as IACBOX help with this.

Tip 5: Manage bandwidth, especially during peak usage. This creates the basis for satisfied WiFi users.

#6 – Use guest WiFi as a customer touchpoint

And now to perhaps the most important tip of all: Use the potential of your guest WiFi! Attention is a scarce and valuable commodity in our information-saturated age. Where else do you have a guaranteed interaction when you address a customer?

No matter what the WiFi login page looks like, every guest pauses there briefly to see what needs to be done: click a button, enter access data… In that moment, you have their full attention and readiness to act. Depending on the situation, they will also appreciate information and engage with it—provided you offer them added value.

A hotel guest may find regional events interesting and might also download an app if it gives them benefits when booking wellness services. The customer in a shop is interested in the latest offers; the patient in an outpatient clinic is interested in appointments, expected waiting time, etc.

But how do you provide this added value without being excessively occupied with time-consuming content editing and maintaining media content?

A flexible captive portal such as IACBOX works via interfacing with systems that not only provide content and messaging tools for use as an up- or cross-selling tool, for customer retention or review management, but also offer various analytics and fully leverage the potential of WiFi as a marketing tool.

Tip 6: Get more out of your guest WiFi.

Would you like some examples? straiv and Guestnet

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