The Importance of Networking in Hospitality Industry
Good Wireless networking in hospitality industry is now one of the biggest challenges hoteliers face in their industry. But, it is not a marginal factor you need to consider. It is rather a core component of the Hospitality industry.
Leisure & Business Travelers Need WiFi
Recent studies and surveys report that Hotel WiFi is extremely important to business travelers. Imagine that over 90% of travelers for business purposes expect fast and reliable WiFi access in their personal rooms. If your hotel has poor internet service quality, visitors would translate it into “a painful loss of business”.
Travelers for other purposes such as relaxation and leisure would also expect good internet access. Studies report that 1\3 leisure visitors are not expected to return to a hotel where they experience poor internet access.
Several reports discuss the expectation of hotel guests regarding Internet Access. Most of them conclude that the WiFi solution for hotels is to have a relatively fast and reliable wireless internet service. Visitors also expect to be able to connect multiple devices as 45% of travelers would have two or more devices.
Reliable WiFi in Hotels Supports your Business
Hoteliers’ main goal is to increase business by making customers satisfied. Your guests have whispered in your ear saying: Free and reliable WiFi will do the job.
WiFi could also be a necessity when you are willing to apply Modern Hotel Management Technology. Wireless Internet in hotels is also essential when you have an IP surveillance system. IP systems are now the best security systems for the hospitality industry.
Wireless Solutions for Hotels & Hospitality
Experts of the Hospitality Industry in BITS Arabia suggest several solutions for better internet in hotels. Here are the main hotel wireless solutions:
Security comes First for WiFi in Hotels
The Security of your hospital networking is your primary need. Many hoteliers focus only on protecting the hotel network from outside attacks by using a kind of firewall. But this is not enough with the increase of users and devices.
Providing secure wireless access at hotels results in two main tasks. First, securing the behavior of BYOD devices (devices you don’t own). Second, securing a very large number of hotel different devices?
The hotel security system needs to manage the access of their end-users. To control what they can access and what exactly the red lines they can’t cross on the hotel network. End-users should get their ordinary required needs, nothing more and nothing less.
Hoteliers now have to use a multi-layered security approach for WiFi in hotels:
- Role-based Access Controls
- IDS/IPS
- Door locks
- Firewall
- Profiling
The Hotel Network Capacity
After having secured the internet of your hospital networking, you need to plan its capacity. This could be done by understanding the different types and the number of end-user devices that would access your hotel’s WiFi.
Besides your hotel IP system, more than 40% of travelers carry with them 3 smart devices. The visitors’ devices may include laptops, tablets, smartphones, cameras, and more. You should also bear in mind that your employees also increase the number of devices accessing the hospitality WiFi.
You also should detect the kind of activity they do (apps, streaming, social media ..etc). You then decide the suitable capacity of your hospitality WiFi that would serve the best user experience.
Sufficient Access Points | In-Room Connectivity
Many hoteliers install insufficient access points for budgetary reasons. But, installing too few hotel Wi-Fi access points results in having poor bandwidth of applications and coverage gaps.
The weak WiFi issue would be solved by throwing a bunch of access points all over the hotel. It should rather be installed in the right positions, such as the guests’ rooms, hotel corridors, and lobbies.
Network Management System
Many hoteliers use multiple network management systems for their hospitality industry. But from an operational point of view, this could not be the best wireless management practice.
Hoteliers should rather have a single network management system of Wireless Internet in hotels. This is to allow them to get the whole complete picture of the entire hotel network. This enables them to watch, analyze, and control all the accessed wired and wireless devices.
The hotel WiFi management software should also be IoT friendly. This would enable you to use advanced hotel management technology.
Continues Development
Hoteliers may provide high-quality hospitality industry networking, but they stop there. They rather have to keep up with demand and the new technology around. They need to upgrade the wireless system after 3-4 years. This will ensure that you consistently provide your visitors with the best service year after year. It leaves no room for a competitor to overpass you.
BITS Arabia for Hotel Wireless Solutions
BITS Arabia is the leading technology supplier company for the hospitality industry in Saudi Arabia. With a wide portfolio and proven expertise, BITS Arabia service offers world-class solutions for hospitality networking. BITS Arabia ensures to deliver an up-to-date secure, fast, reliable, and flexible hotel network taking your guests’ experience to another level.
Contact BITS Arabia NOW for the best hotel WiFi management software solutions.
