3 Ways to Make Guest WiFi Drive Your Business

For today’s connected traveller, fast, reliable and secure WiFi access is a prerequisite – small wonder it consistently tops guest wish-lists in hotel surveys.

Hospitality establishments, malls, transport hubs, exhibition centers, and recreational venues – all are competing to deliver a seamless wireless experience. Without this, both for leisure and for business, data-hungry guests simply won’t stay.

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The US is only in the 21st percentile for WiFi quality (in other words, 79% of countries have better hotel WiFi). However, 85.4% of US hotels offer free WiFi.

Source: Hotel WiFi Test

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On top of this, service providers are increasingly dealing with thousands of concurrently connected users and devices. Attendees, guests, vendors, and administrators expect Internet access anytime, anywhere – in rooms, public areas, and exhibition spaces.

Maintaining the kind of WiFi network that can handle this escalating traffic, and the density and diversity of user devices, is a significant drain on resources. Every establishment strives to make something back from their public WiFi infrastructure.

But simply putting a price plan on your wireless offering is not enough.

As a service provider, here’s what you need to do to drive extra revenue even as you roll out the red carpet for guest WiFi.

Guests prefer WiFi access over in-room, as the need for constant connectivity remains at an all-time high. Wireless availability in a hotel’s shared spaces is also one of the top amenities perceived by guests.

Source: Hotels.com Amenities Survey, 2014

64% of hotels worldwide provide free WiFi. Some hotels have caveats even for free Internet access, like a one-device limit per customer and charges for additional devices.

Source: Hotel Chatter Report 2014

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What do global travelers have to say about free WiFi??

34% say it is the number one factor in choosing a hotel, even on leisure stays.

56% say it is their number one must-have when travelling for business.

66% indicate it is the amenity they most wish would become standard at all hotels.

Source: Hotels.com, 2013

To begin with, your leased broadband line must work just as well, if not better, than what customers are used to. A network plagued with interruptions, dead spots and latency issues only harms your business and brand image.

Free WiFi is pointless if network congestion bogs it down so much that users have trouble accessing data. When it comes to complimentary access, you need to ensure all users have a fair share of the bandwidth, lest a handful of freeloaders skew usage or hogthe network.

Congestion is not caused by the volume of bandwidth, but the inefficiency of its distribution. Manage it optimally by:

● Applying advanced traffic management to curtail the three types of bandwidth abuse – guest freeloading, tenant hogging, and inappropriate usage (such as P2P/streaming).

● Setting volume or time limits on complimentary or new device access to keep a check on non-paying users.

● Capping bandwidth to prioritize service for paid users. Usage thresholds can be set to block further service or offer upgrades to paid plans.

● Throttling non-business traffic such as P2P, video streaming, and torrents, that are usually illegal.

● Providing a toll-free 24/7 tech support for guests.

● Ensuring that your network maintains user privacy and data security.

For most guests, a lousy connection is an unforgivable offence. One of the first considerations in rolling out any guest WiFi should be to avoid damaging your business’s reputation through a lack of proper bandwidth management.

DELIVERSENSURE THE NETWORK1

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Global WiFi usage statistics

Hotel WiFi Test analysed the 50 most-tested countries and sorted them by WiFi quality – WiFi quality being a percentage of hotels with adequate WiFi, and free WiFi as percentage of hotels offering free in-room WiFi (see figures 1 and 2).

● In Europe, it is 33% more likely that a hotel has adequate WiFi than in the US.

● In the US, it is 14% more likely that a hotel will offer free in-room WiFi.

● Asia leads the survey in offering hotel WiFi quality (49.5%).

● However, the percentage of hotels offering free in-room WiFi is 61.2% in Asia, which is the lowest in the world.

Source: HoteI WiFi Test Report (2015)

Hotel WiFi Test: World RegionsWiFi Quality as percentage of hotels with adequate WiFi; Free WiFi as percentage of hotels offering free in-room WiFi.

WiFi quality Free WiFi

United States

Europe

Asia

0 20 40 60 80 100

35%

85%

46%

75%

50%

61%

Figure 1

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Hotel WiFi Test: CountriesWiFi Quality as percentage of hotels with adequate WiFi; Free WiFi as percentage of hotels offering free in-room WiFi.

WiFi Quality

17.2% 92%

South Korea#1 for WiFi QualityWiFi Quality: 92%Free WiFi: 73.8%

France87% of countries have better WiFi

WiFi Quality: 29.6%Free WiFi: 83.4%

United States79% of countries have better WiFi

WiFi Quality: 35.9%Free WiFi: 85.4%

Figure 2

Japan#2 for WiFi Quality

Your guest WiFi infrastructure presents a highly personalized and contextual marketing opportunity.

Instead of complex login interfaces and 20-digit passwords, let guests access your WiFi through a familiar interface: social media. Social media authentication minimizes access barriers, and more importantly, reaps profits beyond direct WiFi monetization – it is an easy way to reveal guests’ usage patterns and gather actionable data for targeted marketing.

Monetize this data through direct, personalized in-browser communication, targeted direct mailers, or mobile engagement via apps and push notifications. Advertisements, discounts, promotions, gift coupons – tailor these based on user profiles, devices, and locations.

A self-service portal, for guest registration and authentication, is a good complement to the social media approach. This can serve as a hub for your brand and its ongoing offers and updates, and help you connect further with guests.

The potential of digital word-of-mouth cannot be underestimated. Tap the familiarity and ubiquity of social media to interact more with your users, and build communities. The brand loyalty and marketing opportunities you gain from this approach will go a long way towards making your guest WiFi investment pay off.

Increase guest WiFi monetization

Tiered bandwidth: Encourage your guests topay for more than the complimentary WiFi plan.

Offer bandwidth upgrades: Make it easy for guests to upgrade their plans, to cater to urgent bandwidth requirements.

Promote other paid services: Pitch offers, spa therapies, restaurant deals, and the like on on your guest login screen. Use targeted advertising across the devices and platforms used by the guests.

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South Korea leads in hotel WiFi quality (92% of hotels), and 73.8% of their hotels offer free WiFi. Japan comes in second with WiFi quality at 84.9% and free WiFiat 51.8%.

Source: Hotel WiFi Test

REMARKETGET SOCIAL AND2

Bandwidth control is also about catering to different user needs. The gap between free WiFi and paid access is rife with potential to dynamically distribute available bandwidth, and offer multiple tiers of service.

Find out which deployment scenarios (time, volume, or bandwidth-based) suit your business model. Then impose bandwidth caps and set traffic-based monetization for different service tiers, beginning with the three primary ones:

1. best-effort (complimentary) for casual users,2. priority (paid) for business users,3. and guaranteed (dedicated) for VIP users.

A multi-tiered approach helps garner additional revenue per guest by matching bandwidth consumption options to their needs. You can even reward loyalty members with premium access – higher bandwidth, higher volume, or more connected devices.

Having a Property Management System (PMS) in place can make service tier management easier, by enabling the implementation of features such as premium plan tracking, guest account tracking for multiple devices, and even automated billing.

Guest WiFi deployment scenarios and growth prospects

Demand for WiFi tops the list of must-have amenities for both leisure and business travelers.(Source: Hotels.com, 2013)

Nearly 64% of hotels worldwide offer free WiFi to guests. (Source: Hotelchatter.com, 2013)

An estimated 1.3 billion of the world’s total workforce is expected to be on mobile by the end of this year, with 80% coming from Asia Pacific.(Source: Ericsson Mobility Report)

According to iPass, 35% of business travelers will pay for a faster connection even when a free network is available, so they can work more efficiently.

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SERVICESDIFFERENTIATE3

With WiFi availability now a key influencer in travelers’ choice of hotels, it is more critical than ever that you get the most out of your public wireless deployments.

Turn your guest WiFi from cost to revenue center by:

● Eliminating bandwidth congestion. ● Leveraging social media to engage and understand your clientèle better.● Meeting varied user expectations with flexible service offerings, and maximizing earnings with price differentiation.

Every establishment wants to effectively monetize its WiFi. But doing that right, and making the WiFi pay for its own upkeep and beyond, demands a closer look at what makes users choose one network over others.

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CREATE A MEMORABLE GUEST EXPERIENCE