How the Travel Industry Needs to Get Connected
From the moment that plane commuters reach their destination, travellers around the world can immediately hear the surround-sound beeping noises as passengers, now safely arrived, turn on their phones to once again become fully connected. We find a similar story when travellers arrive at their guesthouse or hotel: according to a travel industry survey, one-third of guests ask for the Wi-Fi password as they register at the front desk, and two-thirds are online within seven minutes of checking in.
It just proves once again that in today’s connected world, being able to access information and communication services is increasingly important. Just because someone is away from home doesn’t mean they don’t need to stay connected, even when on holiday (unless they’re making the deliberate choice to go off-line).
As for business travellers, a seamless Internet experience is necessary to communicate with clients and colleagues, access work documents and take part in meetings. Providing quick and efficient Wi-Fi services allows both leisure and business guests to enjoy their stay without undue stress.
Let’s look at how the Wi-Fi experience in a guesthouse or hotel can shape either a five-star guest experience or earn your establishment an unwanted one-star Google review.
Wi-Fi For Guests: A Fundamental Hospitality Amenity
People who travel want to update others on their safe whereabouts, and being unable to receive communication, or send outbound messages, can cause anxiety. By providing reliable, fast Wi-Fi services from the moment of registration, hotel guests can start to relax and enjoy their stay sooner.
Access to excellent Wi-Fi increasingly ranks as a necessity for today’s traveller when choosing a hotel – right up there with comfort, cleanliness, and excellent food and beverage offerings. With mobile devices, laptops and remote work now prevalent, complimentary access to Wi-Fi has become a key requirement for both business travellers and holiday makers.
A speed of 10 to 20Mbps per guest is recommended as being a decent Wi-Fi offering that should comfortably allow your guests to stream in full HD – you wouldn’t receive complaints if your customers had access to these speeds.
Excellent Wi-Fi adds to the guest experience, while the opposite also holds true: unhappiness with the Wi-Fi can make people more easily inclined to find fault in other, unrelated areas. From a purely commonsense perspective, this seems counter-intuitive, and a negation of the cost and effort that’s been spent on the marketing initiatives to entice the traveller to your establishment in the first place.
Factors to Consider for your Guests’ Wi-Fi
While most hotels and guesthouses today offer complimentary Wi-Fi service to guests, it might not be equivalent to what people are used to having in their own homes, which can cause frustration.
Considerations when choosing a guest Wi-Fi solution include the following:
- Cost: The pricing structure will be based on the coverage area, usage and the number of users.
- Technical support: Reliable customer support is critical.
- Compliance requirements: The network must meet relevant data privacy and security regulations.
Elevating the Wi-Fi Experience
Vox provides managed Wi-Fi services for businesses. This enables remote software and firmware updates, as well as remote troubleshooting and fault remediation using cloud-based administrative tools. This all works to enhance ongoing connectivity.
Vox offers audits on existing Wi-Fi, because we know that not every business is looking for a new-build Wi-Fi, and we may be able to upgrade existing assets or infrastructure. To provide a superior internet experience for guests, hotels and guesthouses should ensure that they:
- Invest in high-speed Internet infrastructure (the foundation of your Wi-Fi experience) to support faster bandwidth and improve overall performance.
- Implement a reliable Wi-Fi network that covers all areas of the premises, including common areas and guest rooms.
- Optimise the Wi-Fi signal strength with strategic placement of Wi-Fi access points or meshdevices, to ensure a strong and consistent connection throughout the premises.
- Implement robust security measures such as strong encryption and password protocols.
With Vox, our aim is to enhance your guests’ Wi-Fi experience. We can provide a neatly pre-packaged Wi-Fi mesh unit solution to ensure that all areas of the guesthouse are serviced. These mesh units are also easily managed by a user-friendly app, which further enhances the functionality. If more advanced cabling solutions are required, perhaps for a larger premises, our technicians and engineers can set up the solution.
Happy Guests, Positive Business Outcomes
Noting that ‘The Customer is King’ is especially critical in the travel industry – guests want to feel valued as they step over the threshold, and excellent Wi-Fi is a key aspect of attracting quality guests and then retaining them for future return visits.
Investing in fast and dependable Wi-Fi access gives you a competitive edge in terms of increased guest satisfaction and corresponding loyalty. It’s also important to gather feedback from your guests to stay on top of any Internet connectivity issues that might have occurred, to keep your standards consistently high.
Another consideration is for South African hoteliers to aim their marketing at the local target market. The rise of domestic travel since the aftermath of the Covid-19 pandemic presents an alternative option in addition to targeting overseas guests. Arguably, domestic tourists might also be more easily able to plan a repeat visit if they’re content with their overall experience.
With everything that South Africa has to offer tourists, both local and international, wouldn’t it be a pity for guests to be unhappy with your Wi-Fi offering, when it’s a relatively simple amenity to offer – to excellent standards – thanks to experts like Vox?
Talk to us at Vox if you have any questions or concerns about setting up a great guesthouse Wi-Fi experience. We’d love to hear from you – contact us via help@voxtelecom.co.za or call 087 805 0530.
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