WiFi is hands-down the most desired amenity of business travelers today. (In fact, leading hoteliers would call WiFi a basic amenity, as desired as heat, electricity, and water.)
A staggering 94% of business travelers consider it a must, according to a recent Forrester report. As proof to the prevalence of WiFi, more than 80% of all travelers tote their smartphones, laptops, and tablets to hotels.
But merely offering Wi-Fi isn’t going to garner any five-star reviews for lodging. Guests now demand strong, reliable WiFi—WiFi that won’t disappoint them with the endless wheel of buffering, dropped connections, or irritating lags.
Providing guests with stellar WiFi is to provide an overall stellar guest experience. You can use WiFi to bolster how you serve your hotel guests and give them a hotel experience worthy of thumbs up, five stars, and praiseworthy online reviews.
Here’s a look at three ways that you can use WiFi to be a better hotelier. (And you can grab our downloadable hospitality how-to-guides packed with more tips and ideas, or our hospitality infographic now.)
1. Provide a simple & seamless check-in process
Your guests have devoted time, energy, and expense to come to your hotel. Honor your guests by making their hotel experience stress-free from the moment they check in.
“A successful check-in is not only fast but also engaging for guests,” states a Hotel Management article. “Guests do not enjoy being in the dark about what is happening during check-in, and they will grow restless if they are standing in place while hotel employees type away on a computer for an extended period of time.”
Instead of bottlenecking the check-in counter, equip hospitality staff with Wi-Fi-enabled devices. Your hotel guests can check in from different places on your property and avoid getting caught in a long queue, especially during peak hours.
2. Enable personalized in-room entertainment for your guests
Part of vacationing is spending time in one’s hotel room and just relaxing. That’s why a full 75% of guests use in-room entertainment, according to a recent study. However, struggling with buffering, dropped, or lagging Wi-Fi is anything but relaxing. Make sure, therefore, that your hotel Wi-Fi can handle the streaming demands of your customers’ devices.
“About 53% of hoteliers plan to make some change with smart TVs and/or technologies that enable guests to stream content, placing the technology as the top guest-facing priority,” according to a recent study.
3. Offer digital menus in your hotel dining room
Another indicator that your hotel has made your guests’ experience a top priority is to extend your wireless capabilities beyond the front desk and their suites to reach guests in the hotel dining room.
For example, offer your guests digital menus instead of printed ones (which can get faded and disgusting with overuse and time). Hotel guests can choose for themselves from a digital menu. Doing so can eliminate incorrect orders, cater to their specific needs (such as for gluten-free or vegan meals), and enable easy updating of new dishes or eliminating old ones.
“Digital menus ensure speed in delivering the right information at the right time and at the right place,” states a NextRestaurant article.
Want to learn more about wireless technologies in the hospitality space? Check out our hospitality WiFi guides.
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