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da7327

7 Must Follow Rules for Perfect Hotel Wi-Fi - 0 views

  • In a 2013 Study, Forrester Research concluded that out of those polled, 94% agreed that above anything else, they wished all hotels offered quality wifi throughout the hotel and in their rooms.
  • Understanding exactly what factors are most critical to your guests when using wireless connectivity will help you to create a network that is designed to support those exact wants and needs.
  • At the minimum, your hotel will need: A Firewall Role-based access control Profiling IDS/IPS
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  • If your goal is high-performance, which it should be, then placing your APs down the hallways is the last thing you should do.
  • Your wireless system should incorporate a network management system and for many hotels some level of managed support to provide services like: Monthly health checks Firmware reviews Scheduled system tests Tier 2 support Proactive alerts Threshold based triggers And Client tracking to name a few
  • Wi-Fi as a Service offers many benefits,
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    The most desired amenity is not a comfy bed, good location its actually something we can not without, fast and secure Wifi!  Studies show 94% agreed that above every other amenity they wished all hotels offer quality wifi. But not all hotels offer high quality wifi which leads to more spending to fix issues, and poor guest experience. The article mentions how to build a good wifi network from the ground up first thing is Security comes first. Creating a secure system for what your guests needs. Next, comes planning for capacity. Planning for this means plan for what applications your guest use. Then comes access point placement. Where should the network stream from that is the most effective?  Now comes listening to your guests regarding the wifi connectivity and keeping up with demand which all ties into choosing the right partner to setup your wifi connection. It is surprising that out of all the lavish amenities one would like 94% want high quality wifi. In these times without internet connection, it feels as if were in the stone age. The article talks about the importance of having high quality wifi for guests to have a great experience which we cannot stress enough of the importance. The first step of establishing a good wifi network is to do a needs analysis of your guests what type of apps will they use? If its normal email, surf the web you can build a standard network, but if its high data usage like video apps then you have to establish a higher connection. With all this having a shared network is always risky so you have to have the most secure network one can have so you don't Put your guests in cyber harm's way. An effective way for hotels to manage all this is to contract with a wifi company so they can manage, provide and upgrade as needed. So the importance of choosing a right partner that knows your guests' needs is important. Hotels rely so much on keeping up with technology from being able to check in online, manage hotel guests services, and j
hunter56321

Improve Your Laptop's Wifi With A Wifi Antenna Booster * Expert Vagabond - 0 views

  • As a full-time digital nomad who works from his computer around the world, strong wireless internet connections are critical to my lifestyle. While I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the availability of wifi in many countries, there are definitely times when I wished my MacBook’s wifi card was more powerful.
  • ’ve discovered a fantastic solution to my relentless wifi addiction. You can buy a wifi range extender for your laptop, like the TP-Link N300 Wifi Antenna.
  • t increases my laptop’s WiFi signal strength 3 to 5 times
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  • There are 2 primary situations when having a wifi antenna helps greatly. The first is when I’m staying at a hotel, guesthouse, or hostel and the wifi signal doesn’t reach my room.
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    For travelers on the go, one frequently encountered frustration is the poor quality of WiFi signal in international destinations. This is especially true for business travelers.This frustration can be remedied however. by providing travelers with WiFi range extenders such as the TP-Link N300 Wifi Antenna. They can plug right into a laptops Ethernet port to extend its WiFi range by 200 yards or more! This represents an easy fix to a common problem for travelers and one that hotels should be looking into providing to guests. (It should be noted however, that more powerful AC technology is now available, replacing older N version network tech.) Providing this to guests would greatly enhance their quality of stay. Nicholas Reynolds- Hospitality Enterprise Technology Online
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    I agree that a good wireless connection is vital to reaching customers and can really effect their stay. Connectivity has become such a big issue that it is in most hotel's customer satisfaction surveys as a metric for how the hotel is doing.
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    This would definitely be beneficial for those whose job requires them to travel and to be constantly connected to the internet. Unfortunately in the world we live in not only is this important to business travelers but can also be important to families that are traveling on vacation where parents can not fully disconnect from their jobs. We all know the importance of receiving emails and txts from work that can be vital to your career.
anonymous

Managed WiFi Hotel Solutions, Benefits, Features | Blueprint RF - 1 views

  • Yet, adding IoT solutions or hosting large conferences may strain your existing system. Your tech amenities won’t deliver a high return on investment without a stable and secure wireless network.
  • Overseeing your WiFi system is a full-time job. It requires time and financial resources to update infrastructure, replace old equipment, and patch firmware.
  • Fortunately, managed WiFi providers solve your wireless dilemma with tailored recommendations.
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  • What does managed WiFi mean? With managed WiFi, you outsource your wireless network to a third-party vendor.
  • Hotel owners switch to a managed WiFi service to preserve time and financial resources while providing a secure and reliable guest WiFi network. Managed solutions offer features, like reporting options and capital planning assistance, that support your current and longterm goals. 
  • In short, your managed WiFi network runs seamlessly in the background. Your IT team isn’t overburdened with infrastructure improvements. And management has access to advanced analytics and reporting features to adjust bandwidth and predict future needs. 
  • Enterprises turn to managed service providers for their “skilled human resources, infrastructure, and industry certifications.”
  • With managed WiFi services, your provider develops a secure wireless network and monitors it 24/7/365. You pay a monthly fee, which helps you avoid unexpected expenses.
  • For many hoteliers, the best part of a managed WiFi service is that you can simply call for help. Your provider remotely evaluates your system. They perform updates, identify hazards, and work with you to troubleshoot minor issues. From afar, a managed WiFi provider can even boost a nearby signal as a temporary patch during a device outage. For challenging problems, a certified technician visits your location and resolves the issue. 
  • The system learns, tracks and adapts to your guest and property needs without forgoing essential security and privacy protocols.
  • top managed WiFi providers also offer options like:  Conference management features handle VLAN configurations, bandwidth shaping, extra ports, and even online scheduling and resource guides for events.  24/7/365 customer support services assist your hotel staff and hotel guests for positive experiences with your high-speed wireless network. 
  • It no longer makes sense to employ a full staff to manage your hotel’s wireless network. Instead, partner with a reputable managed WiFi service provider dedicated to the hospitality industry.
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    The author presents the argument that optimum performance of a hotel's wi-fi network is critical to a hote and that the demands of IoT, large conferences and the need to update infrastructure require constant oversight. It is argued that outsourcing the hotel wi-fi network to a managed WiFi provider has many advantages over placing the burden and responsibility on the hotel IT team. In my opinion, the article makes a strong case for engaging a managed WiFi provider. What would have been a useful addition to the article is how hotel's should go about managing and overseeing the provider that they engage.
aquin206

What is Proximity Marketing? How Does it Work? - 0 views

  • Proximity marketing is a marketing technique whereby recipients are targeted with marketing messages based on their vicinity. Simply put, it’s when you send ads to people who are close by your venue
  • WiFi-equipped smartphone these days and logs into public hotspots, meaning that you only need the right software to collect customer data and advertise to them using your guest WiFi.
  • The way it works is that when a customer logs into your guest WiFi network, you collect data about their device (specifically the MAC number of the device), based on which you can “follow” the customer around the venue and later identify them when they return
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  • QR codes
  • Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)
  • NFC stands for “near field communication
  • pay at the store with your phone
  • QR codes are scannable barcodes
  • 5 proximity marketing technologies you need to know
  • An example would be when you enter a store and get a push notification on your phone with a discount for your shopping, or when you scan a QR code at an event to download promotional materials.
  • How to best use proximity marketing?
  • How does it work?
  • One of the easiest, yet most versatile ways to implement proximity marketing in your venue is to use WiFi.
  • This platform should have indoor positioning features, so that you can easily locate your customers, and WiFi marketing features, so that you can effectively communicate with them when they are nearby.
  • This is a somewhat antiquated method compared to the other ones we’re discussing in this article, but it has its benefits.
  • This solution has been making waves at various conferences and events.
  • it requires extreme proximity (we’re talking millimeter to centimeter range), so it’s less versatile than the other technologies discussed.
  • even though most people can turn on Bluetooth on their devices, they don’t necessarily do that. And even if they do, that’s only half your road to successful marketing with BLE.
  • Similarly to BLE, geofencing with GPS requires the user to turn on the location services on their phone, as well as have a medium of communication with you
  • What is proximity marketing?
  • sales
  • if you notice that someone visited your store several times
  • but never made a purchase, it’s time to act! Pop in their mailbox, offer a discount,
  • loyalty
  • behavior analysis
  • indoor navigation
  • gamification
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    wifi, QR codes, NFC, BLE, GPS
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    This article discusses how marketing technology is utilized for proximity marketing. By targeting recipients with marketing communications based on their proximity, proximity marketing is a marketing strategy. It uses many technologies, like WiFi, BLE, NFC, or GPS, and can be done for a variety of reasons, including advertising, feedback, and customer service, to deliver advertisements to individuals who are nearby your location. An illustration would be if you scanned a QR code at an event to download promotional materials, or if you entered a business and received a push notification on your phone with a discount for your purchases. One of the simplest and most adaptable methods to use proximity marketing in your venue is through WiFi. You gather information about a customer's device when they sign into your guest WiFi network. Although a fairly outdated technique, QR codes have several advantages. It is incredibly simple, affordable, and quick to install. This compromises its effectiveness, although, for some applications, it will be adequate. The user is directed to a certain website by these scannable barcodes. At numerous conferences and events, the QR code solution has generated a lot of buzzes. Exhibitors utilize it to provide background information about their brand that cannot otherwise be given in the booth because it is so subtle and affordable. You can use your phone or smartwatch to make a purchase at the store using near-field communication (NFC) technology. NFC is less adaptable than the other technologies since it demands close contact and is not as widely used as WiFi or QR code readers. Although it's a less well-known technology, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) access points perform similarly to WiFi access points. Although the majority of individuals can enable Bluetooth on their devices, they don't always do so. However, you need a medium, such as an app that they have downloaded, and you need to put BLE beacons at your location to communicate with g
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    This article discusses how marketing technology is utilized for proximity marketing. By targeting recipients with marketing communications based on their proximity, proximity marketing is a marketing strategy. It uses many technologies, like WiFi, BLE, NFC, or GPS, and can be done for a variety of reasons, including advertising, feedback, and customer service, to deliver advertisements to individuals who are nearby your location. An illustration would be if you scanned a QR code at an event to download promotional materials, or if you entered a business and received a push notification on your phone with a discount for your purchases. One of the simplest and most adaptable methods to use proximity marketing in your venue is through WiFi. You gather information about a customer's device when they sign into your guest WiFi network. Although a fairly outdated technique, QR codes have several advantages. It is incredibly simple, affordable, and quick to install. This compromises its effectiveness, although, for some applications, it will be adequate. The user is directed to a certain website by these scannable barcodes. At numerous conferences and events, the QR code solution has generated a lot of buzzes. Exhibitors utilize it to provide background information about their brand that cannot otherwise be given in the booth because it is so subtle and affordable. You can use your phone or smartwatch to make a purchase at the store using near-field communication (NFC) technology. NFC is less adaptable than the other technologies since it demands close contact and is not as widely used as WiFi or QR code readers. Although it's a less well-known technology, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) access points perform similarly to WiFi access points. Although the majority of individuals can enable Bluetooth on their devices, they don't always do so. However, you need a medium, such as an app that they have downloaded, and you need to put BLE beacons at your location to communicate with g
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    This article explains what proximity marketing is and five different ways it is used through. Proximity marketing is used through WIFI, QR Codes, NFC (near field communication), BLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) Beacons, and GPS. In addition to going in detail about all those, this article also explains how proximity marketing helps the company. It can help by boosting sales, retargeting, building loyalty, behavior analysis, indoor navigation and gamification.
anonymous

Deploying WiFi in the Hospitality Industry including Hotels, Condos and Apartments - 0 views

  • a high powered business class Wi-Fi solution. The EnGenius ECB350 and EnGenius EAP350 are 800mW 11n access points with gigabit ethernet. The coverage is 3-times greater than consumer wireless routers and more powerful than the 100mW enterprise class access points from Cisco Systems. The units are feature rich and includes multiple SSID, VLAN tagging, SNMP and Power Over Ethernet for flexible deployment.  They also support the free EnGenius EZ controller software for management and monitoring.  There is also an outdoor version, EnGenius ENH210 EXT which can extend the wireless network outdoors or be used to bridge remote buildings. 
  • Environment is always a factor when discussing wireless connectively. The hotel’s construction, size and location are some contributing factors, which will determine the wireless coverage for each hotel. These factors determine how radio frequencies travel through and around obstacles which will vary for every hotel installation.
  • Concrete walls with metal rebar pose the biggest problems for WiFi coverage so positioning the access points in a central hallway is usually best.
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    this article show us a new technology of WIFI system in hotel. most of the hotel WIFI system are crowd and costly. however this system with some method to make the system efficiency and cheap. and most importantly, it can extend the wireless network outdoors or be used to bridge remote buildings. In my opinion. even this kind of system mayby little completed to set up, but it will bring a perfect WIFI effect. Nowadays, more and more people focus on the WIFI effect when they live in the hotel. If this system can give a deep impact to customers, it will be the advantage to fight with other hotels. with the internet development in our life, a good WIFI can make our study, work, and relax easier. so, for hotels, a good condition of WIFI system is a strong weapon. if with the system been extended, it also a good news for our guests. it is a kind of win-win choice.
Claire Conway

How Fast Is Your Hotel Internet Connection? || HotelChatter - 1 views

  • Nearly two-thirds of hotels offer free WiFi, whether it be free outright, free if you join the loyalty program or free if you simply make your reservation directly with the hotel.
  • if the hotel doesn't offer a tiered WiFi plan where you can pay extra to have more bandwidth and a faster speed then really, that hotel touting its free WiFi is completely useless.
  • these speeds vary wildly from hotel to hotel and at this point, it's pretty impossible to say which hotel brand is doing it best.
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    This article discusses the difference of internet speeds in hotel rooms. Many hotels that offer free wifi have some of the slowest internet speeds available. Usually the internet bandwith is about 1 to 2 mbps per room. Since the connection speed is so slow the free wifi is basically useless to the guest. Some hotels are offering guests a tiered wifi plan at an additional price that has more bandwith and faster speed. So then the advertised free wifi isn't really free anymore. The article lists the different internet speeds from various hotels found by speedtest.net
Joe Cilli

IPads Change Economics, and Speed, of Hotel Wi-Fi-On the Road - NYTimes.com - 3 views

  • broad use of iPads and other mobile tablets, which are heavy users of video streaming, the guest room Wi-Fi networks that most hotels thought they had brought up to standard just a few years ago are now often groaning under user demands
  • Hotels, he said, now must choose “either to not increase the amount of bandwidth, so everybody will get much slower service to the point where you’ll think you’re on a dial-up connection,” or upgrade and essentially put in a metered fee-based system.
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    Ipads changing our life is absolute. In fact, if there is no ipad, something electronic products can also bring revolution in hotel Wi-Fi networks. To tell the truth, free hotel Wi-Fi is too slow.....last year, I had a internship in Holiday Inn Central Plaza Beijing. There had two kinds of Wi-Fi networks. Free network was cover the whole hotel but the speed was slow. The other that must be paid was faster. Some people had video session prefered the faster one. In addtion, hotels should upload their Wi-Fi networks. It can be an attraction of the hotels.
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    I've encountered this issue at numerous hotels in my travels. I would be up for paying an increased fee for better wi-fi if I had assurances that that was indeed what I was getting. I think that is the direction most properties will end up going as more people invest in data heavy machines such as tablet pc's, macbook air's and similar products. When I travel I need wi-fi access in my room as well as the conference or meeting rooms, and its hit or miss most times. You would think that they would have an idea of what level of bandwith is needed for 200+ internet marketing professionals but often times that is not the case. I am looking to invest in mobile hotspots such as mi-fi's or similar services provided by AT&T or Verizon, as the convenience of knowing there is a connection I can trust is well worth the investment.
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    All I want to say is that...every innovation or something new to use must go through so many tests! I post my bookmark about 5 hours ago,but it didn't work! Until now, after so many times I tried, it suddenly appears and I do not know why... besides, about the Ipad, nowadays is an information era, we obtain and use information during our daily life, some free wi-fi is really helpful for us. I used to connect the internet with lines. If more computers want to go to the internet, it must be use the route, it is so inconvenience..however wi-fi makes us to use the internet wherever we want.
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    For a hotel the WiFi system is really important because guests prefer the hotel with WiFi system. The guests even willing to pay a small premium to stay at a WiFi equipped lodgings. As the rise of smart phones and ultra-lightweight laptops case the bandwidth problems. I think the hotel can deal with this problems by create various account levels for guests, stuff and visitors. The hotel can allow the visitors to use free WiFi and provide high level account to overnight guests.
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    I personally prefer to use WIFI in my own room when I visit a hotel because I have more privacy. Some hotels they may offer free/complimentary WIFI in the public area, for example, the lobby, the lounge, etc. At the same time, to limit the overuse of public WIFI, the WIFI in the guests' room are charged by different time period and the length of using the WIFI. It seems to be not fair to those business people who require internet all day long. However, it lowers the expense of the WIFI service and improves the guests' satisfaction of the internet service.
ldevaul

8 Disruptive Hotel Technology Trends to Watch in 2021 - 6 views

  • For those of us keeping an eye on technology in hotels, it can be difficult to discern what trends are here to stay and what trends are simply a marketing stunt.
  • Venture capitalists are finally starting to recognize the opportunity to invest in tools and platforms that allow hotels to capture new levels of hotel operations efficiency and revenue growth.
  • Cloudbeds offers an all-in-one suite of tools, including a property management system, channel manager, booking engine, and revenue manager, growing revenue and automating workflows at more than 20,000 properties.
    • ldevaul
       
      This is definitely something to look into. SaaS programs, nowadays, are super robust and offer so much data and opportunity for large and small businesses.
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  • Despite being one of the largest and most dynamic segments of the US and global economy, penetration of cloud-based technologies in the segment remains incredibly low, and the vendor landscape remains tremendously fragmented on a global basis,” says Matt Melymuka, co-founder and partner at PeakSpan Capital.
    • ldevaul
       
      This is very interesting...one of the largest industries and they are the slowest to invest in cloud-based technologies. A lot of companies clearly prefer to print everything and leave an actual paper trail!
  • Life House, a tech-first hotel experience, shows proof-of-concept: that hotels that invest in technology drive higher revenue, better guest reviews, and a higher star-rating.
  • Hotels use Zingle’s messaging tools to deliver five-star service at scale; Medallia’s investment in Zingle gives hotels the opportunity to provide frictionless guest service and streamline time-consuming interactions, such as check-in.
    • ldevaul
       
      I'm sure companies who invested in this program during the height of pandemic were very thankful!
  • Hotels are catching on, adding convenience through streaming, voice activation, guest-room tablets, and food ordering tech.
    • ldevaul
       
      The guest room tablets that can order room service and manage the operating system in the room is a game changer. Hotel Mousai in PV Mexico has this installed in all of their suites and it was super impressive!
  • White labeling is a practice in which a product – in this case, hotel software – is manufactured by a third party and uses branding by the purchaser, or marketer, so that the end product appears to have been produced by the purchaser.
  • An API, application programming interface, is simply a messenger of data between applications. APIs allow your various hotel technology tools and programs to work together, connecting your RMS to a PMS, or your PMS to your upsell software, or your business intelligence software to your PMS. An API makes your technology user-friendly and efficient; when your tools work together, you capture each platform’s full capabilities.
    • ldevaul
       
      This is super useful! When all of your software can speak to each other it improves productivity so much!
  • For instance, feeding data from your PMS into a business intelligence tool leads to real, operational data to analyze trends and provide recommendations for better marketing campaigns, smarter staffing decisions, seasonal trends, and market competition. Hotels that are comfortable using APIs can automate tasks that take up much of their employee’s time with manual data entry.
  • On-demand convenience dominates our lives, and guests expect this level of ease from their hotel experience as well.
  • Oaky, one of the industry’s leading upselling tools, raised a Series A funding round of $9.5 million led by PeakScan Capital. Oaky’s appeal to investors stems from the app’s data-driven approach to driving incremental revenue. Their deep understanding of customer behavior makes Oaky one of the top-rated upselling tools on the market today.
    • ldevaul
       
      This would be great for hotels who are struggling to increase their revenue.
  • Hilton is taking a different approach, partnering with Netflix to allow guests to control their streaming straight from the Hilton Honors mobile app.
    • ldevaul
       
      This is genius! Definitely will be trying this at my next Hilton stay.
  • As far as voice-activation, Volara is leading the way in providing a thoughtful, Alexa-esque guest-room solution. Volara integrates with the most popular work order management systems so that guests can make requests and get confirmation when the item or service they need will be delivered.
  • And for savvy marketing managers, tablets provide a new channel through which to send targeted, automated messages generating $5,000 per month in additional revenue.
    • ldevaul
       
      This is great for hotel marketers! Proving their value and having the company invest in tech that shows an huge ROI. Love this!
  • 2nd Kitchen is a godsend for hotels without a kitchen on-site: guests can order room service from restaurants near your hotel, taking care of care of orders, menus, payment, fulfillment, and customer support for your property.
  • Hotels are a prime target for hackers. “Only about 25% of all U.S. businesses, including hotel operators, are fully compliant with current data security best practices. That means that three out of four are not and are potential disasters waiting to happen,” reported one cybersecurity expert.
    • ldevaul
       
      This is definitely worth exploring more!
  • Numerous high-profile malware attacks on the hotel industry have led to hundreds of millions of guests’ data being compromised and millions of dollars in damage. Just this February, MGM Resorts revealed they were the target of a massive data breach that compromised personal information for more than 10.6 million guests. Files leaked in the MGM attack included information on celebrities, chief executives of technology companies, reporters and government officials, according to Skift.
  • Expedia and Booking have taken some pretty big hits in recent months.
  • Why the dive in stock price? There are two factors outside Coronavirus that are impacting OTAs. First, hotels are getting better at capturing direct bookings. Hotel tech like direct booking platforms, metasearch ad managers, and messaging integrations help properties draw more visitors to their site and convert more direct bookings, circumventing the high OTA commissions in the process.
  • Secondly, Google has entered the travel market in a big way. Google has expanded from traditional AdWords to include hotels everywhere via its Hotel Ads product.
  • 5G may be getting all the buzz, but for property owners, WiFi 6 is much more relevant. WiFi 6 is the term used to describe the next iteration of Wifi, a faster, more efficient connection enabled through new technologies. WiFi 6 is about 30% faster than our current WiFi.
  • With WiFi 6, your property can leverage in-room technology to provide better service, driving positive guest reviews and repeat business. Smart thermostats, smart speakers, and smart locks will all perform better with the adoption of WiFi 6 over the next five years.
  • Investors in Oaky already recognize this next insight: data has become the world’s most valuable resource. The sooner you start to mine guest data for better customer insights, the better positioned your property will be against your competition.
  • Data can fuel smarter marketing campaigns, inform your pricing, and help you capture a higher market share than your competitors by knowing your guests on a deeper level.
  • Earlier this year, Revinate launched the hotel industry's first Guest Data Platform to aggregate, clean and deliver rich guest profiles for hotels and property groups of all sizes. The platform combines data from multiple sources to provide a complete picture of a hotel’s guests, delivering the information needed to increase guest satisfaction scores, direct bookings, and ultimately, profit.
  • Brands in the alternative lodging sector include Stay Alfred, Sonder, The Guild Hotels and to some extent groups such as Selina and OYO. 
  • The biggest distraction or barrier these next-gen hotels face is that they’re taking the wrong approach to tech. The companies that win will be the ones who stop acting like tech companies – using buzzwords like AI and virtual concierge – and focus on being more innovative and agile real estate businesses than traditional market players today. Those that succeed will be tech-enabled businesses; not tech businesses.
  • Smart hotel rooms use technology to allow guests to personalize their stay experiences.
  • Technology is becoming more important to hotel operations because it can deliver increasingly high value for hoteliers and guests.
  • The most important software in the hotel industry is the property management system, which acts as “mission control” for hotel operations. Hoteliers use a PMS to manage reservations, check guests in and out, and handle billing.
  • While exciting technologies present new options for hoteliers to enhance their offerings, these new innovations also mean hoteliers must focus on data security and continued training when implementing the technology that guests expect.
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    This article takes a deep dive into the emerging tech trends in 2021. They briefly touched on how SaaS is slowly taking over the traditional PMS and how venture capitalist can't get enough of these programs. Another honorable mention in this article is the explosion of guest room tech such as streaming services, voice activation, and guest room tablets. OTAs that have traditionally been top dogs when it came to hotel bookings are slowly declining and big data is becoming super insightful to hoteliers. This article touches on so many avenues of tech and it's definitely a must read!
irinatroitskaya

HNN - Hoteliers take measured approach to Hotspot 2.0 upgrade - 2 views

  • It’s likely the entire hotel industry will upgrade to the new Wi-Fi standard with seamless transfers from mobile networks and better encryption, but the cost of installation and guests’ lack of awareness of Hotspot 2.0 is tempering the pace of adoption.
  • The hardware on-site can’t accept that process right now
  • Moving to the new Wi-Fi standard will be a challenge for properties,
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  • and it costs about $125 to $150 a room to update properties to the new ratio, averaging about $40,000 to $65,000 per hotel.
  • Connectivity has become a greater deciding factor for guests
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    This article tells about the perspectives of Hotspot 2.0, the new standard for public WiFi, in the hotel industry. The WiFi Alliance has been working on designing this new standard which is supposed to be much friendlier to the users while making Wi-Fi usage more akin to cellular. It allows automatic WiFi network detection and eliminates the public Wi-Fi log-ins, providing automatic access to secure Wi-Fi networks using a Passpoint profile stored on a device. For hotel guests, this means they would be able to go from using their mobile devices on their personal mobile networks to the hotel's Wi-Fi without having to re-enter their authentication credentials every time. This feature, in my point of view, would be very useful, especially for the business travelers who value every second of their time. Another major benefit of Hotspot 2.0 is improved security by means of enterprise-grade WPA2 encryption, which makes it safer than open public networks. This also will be appreciated by the travelers who often use hotel's WiFi networks for booking different travel services and insert security sensitive data. However, the cost of implementation of this new standard in the hotels is rather high. Thus, hoteliers do not wish to force its realization until they are sure that there is demand from the customers. The polls show that the guests are still unaware of the benefits of Hotspot 2.0 and don't consider it as a key point while choosing a hotel. Yet some hotels try to be before the competition and become early adopters of this technology. They believe that quality of internet connection, as well as additional options, will be a differentiating point for hotels in the future. However, in my opinion, it would be wise to conduct appropriate research and wait until this technology will be close to becoming the industry standard before making significant investments. There is always a chance that the trend will go another way.
robfitzpatrick

As tech transforms the hotel business, network performance is critical - 3 views

  • he changing demands of travelers that have put technology at the center of the lodging experience.
  • wireless connectivity is what guests desire most
  • well-performing WiFi was “essential to their stay,
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  • 89 percent of guests “deciding where to lodge based on free reliable WiFi,
  • access to connectivity is now literally the first thing brands should be delivering to guests.
  • Poor guest WiFi can result in negative guest satisfaction
  • consequences
  • ncluding loss of repeat customer business, poor online reviews, managers not getting bonuses, or worse, loss of franchise.
  • global hotel brands now connect their various branch or franchise locations via a corporate Wide Area Network (WAN) that supports many of the critical tools hoteliers need to both keep guests happy and the lights on.
  • hotel guests have little patience for bottlenecks at the front desk.
  • hotel networks need to support an almost countless number of apps -- from business-critical tools to a guest’s Instagram account
  • f IT can retire their physical legacy network infrastructure, they’ll no longer need to exhaust resources to support hardware
  • drawbacks
  • ack of visibility
  • IT teams lose that visibility when they rely on cloud
  • IT will need a monitoring solution that delivers visibility along each network path to pinpoint the actual cause of the issue and to resolve it.
  • comprehensive network performance monitoring solution
  • any performance monitoring solution
  • is able to account for ALL of the apps leveraging network capacity.
  • This includes the personal apps of guests using a specific locations WiFi
  • breaks down the barriers to visibility across the network where issues hindering performance could be hiding.
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    The article starts off by addressing the most essential desire of the modern traveler, which is well performing WiFi. Based on a study in 2018, 89% of guests decide where to stay based on free reliable WiFi. This makes access to connectivity the top priority hospitality firms should be looking at for their guests. Poor WiFi experiences can lead to negative guests satisfaction which leads to a loss of repeat business and poor guest reviews. Connectivity also plays a crucial role in the operation of the business. As more business applications move to a wireless or cloud base, the need for strong connectivity increases. This allows room for new innovations to enhance the guest experience. A front desk agent can now check someone in on a cell phone rather than a desktop. This enables you to greet the guest at the door and complete a check-in while in route to their room, eliminating the need to wait in the lobby. Another benefit is with the advent of cloud computing, a hotel can reduce their hardware costs by not having to have a LAN at each property. They can run a centralized cloud server that all properties can log into. This also eliminates the need to have dedicated IT staff at each location. A major issue with this though is that IT loses visibility of the local delivery path of the network. This makes it difficult for them to locate and resolve issues that might happen, such as slow WiFi speeds. They are then challenged to develop a network performance monitoring solution that can account for all the apps working off the network, including the guest's, to gain visibility to be able to troubleshoot when issues arise. I think moving to a cloud based system to reduce hardware and labor costs will become standard for large hospitality firms. For brands with thousands of properties, this can be a great way to reduce expenses. There are certainly challenges that go along with this new technology, however I believe the ROI to be greater and I can see these companies m
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    I can see these companies making the initial investments to perfect this method. You already see it in a majority of software applications moving to a cloud/web based system. This helps to greatly reduce hard drive storage needs and makes the programs accessible from anywhere. In this post-covid environment, remote accessibility has become a necessity.
Xuan Huang

Holiday Inn Shows the Way Upgrades to In-house WiFi - 0 views

  • Holiday Inn Resorts has been using their in-house maintained WiFi for over six months. It is up and running 95% of the time and this has resulted in higher guest satisfaction, but most importantly, has helped revenues climb.
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    In order to meet the expectation of convenience Internet access for customers, Holiday Inn Resort in Goa has upgraded their WIFI system to be more consistant and turned to IDS-NEXT, which can imporve he existing WiFi facility and develop it as a revenue generating avenue. Several advantages of IDS-NEXT could be like reducing external dependencies, cost efficient and additional revenue channel.
yiran DING

Hotel Wifi Hacking is on the Rise - 0 views

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    Hotel wifi connection can be an easy access for identity thieves to stole personal information. Several surveys have show that there are many potential risks to get attacks through hotel internet.  WiFi Hacking Crimes Are Easy to Commit The security of hotel witless networks is a big issue and can be easily attempted by hackers. People may illegally use the internet access by staying in the nearby area of a hotel. Fake access point can also cause consumers in the hotel to lose their personal information such as credit card, banking or other confidential information.  The article also offers some solutions to avoid hackers. 
  •  
    Reading your article brings us back to some topics that we covered in this weeks reading. The security of hotels is important in that industry, especially when guest give out important information. Like you mentioned for example, credit cards and other confidential information that hotels need and use to process the guests into the systems. It is important that hotels protect their guests by affirming that all systems they use are well protected.
ccpanther88

Wi-Fi networks: Hotels in KSA can create a competitive advantage | Arab News - 3 views

  •  
    Smart phones and mobile devices are nearly an extension of our technological anatomy. Their overall convenience has made many of us rely on our mobile devices more now than ever. It is this growing symbiotic relationship that is allowing this industry to optimize across all levels. In Saudi Arabia, the hospitality sector grows at nearly 9 percent annually with over 150 hotels expected to open by the end of 2015. Also noted in this article is the impressive market-share of the handset device industry throughout The United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait, which exceed 75 percent. With the rapidly growing hotel and mobile-device industries, it's a match made in marketing and revenue heaven. A large portion of the hospitality industry is fueled by business-travel. Improved devices and wireless-internet capabilities give us the ability to be productive from anywhere at anytime. Nearly two-thirds of travelers tote three or more devices and over 90 percent of them claim WiFi is a necessity when lodging. Between guests traveling on leisure or business, hotels in particular are optimizing revenue opportunities with the help of WiFi. Whether it be using location-based software to alert guests of a nearby offer; turning their device into a point-of-sale; or being able to provide affordable WiFi services to a large corporate event at budget; WiFi can affect business on so many different levels. Affordability in high quality wireless services allows us to connect to both the leisure and business guest and optimize our relationships. Newer 802.11ac networks are more affordable then it's predecessor and provide speeds over twice as fast at a wider range. Being able to provide affordable and reliable wireless networks to customers give them freedom and comfort in being able to use their tools at-a-distance. Each and every relationship is crucial--nearly one-third of all travelers reconsider rebooking after being inconvenienced by their internet experience.
Dongyun Oh

No WiFi Zones: Oasis in the connected city? | SmartPlanet - 0 views

  •  
    When your city has an abundance of free WiFi signals it can help tourists navigate different parts of the city and connect residents with local businesses that might have not come across otherwise. Both are good for the local economy. But free WiFi seems to be all around us.
Marla Baldomero

Why are we getting ripped off for wi-fi? - 0 views

  • Survey after survey reveals that, if we’re away from home, the accommodation we’re in must have the internet and many of us will avoid anywhere that doesn’t.
  • Thirty-eight per cent of travellers reported that free wi-fi played a part in their decision as a "must" to stay at a specific hotel
  • 35 per cent reported it was the simple amenity they wanted to see more in hotels
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  • 31 per cent said they wished it would become a standard in all hotels in 2012
  • more and more hotels overseas regard free wi-fi as essential if they are to be competitive
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    This article discusses the importance of having wifi available in hotels. Based on a survey completed by hotels.com, a prominent site for booking travel accomodations, travelers highly base their hotel decision on whether wifi is available and if its free to guests. The internet is an important part of traveling, whether it's used for business, researching local attractions or connecting with family and friends. I agree that wifi should be offered for free to hotel guests, perhaps provide a passcode for it to be used; however, from a manager's point of view, I understand why they charge. Guests will pay whatever it takes to get connected which in turn results in revenue for the hotel.
anonymous

Proximity Marketing: How Your Business Benefits From In-Venue Targeting - 0 views

  • Proximity marketing allows venues to communicate with visitors at the right place and time, with highly relevant, personalized content on their mobile devices. It allows venue owners and businesses to use location as a basis for marketing activities
  • Use cases for retail, hospitality, transportation hubs, smart cities, shopping centers, restaurant
  • Mobile Apps
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  • th an effective data-driven marketing suite, marketers can send messages via a WiFi captive portal, SMS, mobile in-app push notifications, email, digital signage, and more.
  • Proximity marketing enables marketers to capitalize on the local nature of an onsite visit, where in-the-moment timing can increase engagement with the messages delivered, and trigger impulse buying. For example, consider a buy-one-get-one-free offer on body soap while a visitor is in the personal hygiene aisle
  • Email
  • WiFi Captive Portal
  • First, consider connectivity. As previously mentioned, proximity marketing requires one or more technologies to trigger proximity messages (e.g., WiFi, beacons, GPS, etc
  • n conclusion, the value of timing and context in proximity marketing campaigns cannot be understated. The ability to reach your visitors with highly-relevant content, at a time when they’re most likely to act allows you to cut through the noise
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    This site explains the benefits of using Proximity Marketing but this is the side of a company that is selling this marketing tool. It goes into detail of how it works and gives examples. I like how this site goes over the benefits and does touch base on how connectivity is important. It goes over how sms, email, mobile aps and wifi captive portals are beneficial.
anonymous

11 Tips to Improve Your Restaurant's Cyber Security in the COVID-19 Era | FSR magazine - 0 views

  • wealth of client data on tap from places with lax security
  • unknowingly serve credit card data to hackers. Due to the volume of credit card transactions and CRM data available, restaurants need to take cybersecurity seriously before a criminal gets wind of the vulnerability
  • A hacker only needs to gain access to a restaurant's POS system and install malware to steal customer credit card details.
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  • Take Chipotle, for example. The company got devalued by about $400 million after they suffered a data breach.
    • anonymous
       
      Major consequences for restaurants if discovered as the link
  • because most go belly up six months after an attack.
  • Unprotected WiFi
  • Criminals pretend to be from the U.S. government and inform targets their COVID-19 stimulus check is ready, but they would need to verify the details of the recipient first before they can send it.
    • anonymous
       
      Low level scammer
  • CRM software data, which may include names, addresses, and even birthdays. One of the most common ways to achieve this sort of attack is via malware (malicious software). Hackers find a vulnerable backdoor to a restaurant's network to install malware on the POS system. Malicious code then records every transaction and every detail, sending it back to the criminal's server over the internet.
  • GrubHub drivers scam both the restaurants and the customers by marking the deliveries as complete and pocketing the tip money, without bothering even to pick up the order from the establishment.
    • anonymous
       
      AHHHH
  • Businesses are scrambling to find suppliers amidst the chaos, and criminals have been taking advantage of the confusion
  • Scammers are posing as representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Center for Disease Control (CDC), and other public health agencies
  • social engineering on the restaurant staff to pull off phishing attacks.
  • PCI compliant.
  • conduct a risk analysis
  • hiring a security expert either full time or as a consultan
  • Secure your network and always change the free WiFi access point's password with a strong one every day.
  • latest operating system updates
  • Force multi-factor authentication
  • strong passwords
  • Ensure sensitive data encryption
  • web-filter to secure your WiFi network
  • Install a robust security software program on all computers and devices to block, detect, and clean malware.
  • Conduct regular cybersecurity training
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    Restaurants have always been an easy target for cyber security hackers, in particular, hackers who are looking for credit card and ID information. Restaurants provide hackers with a "wealth of client data" due to the high "volume of credit card transactions and CRM data available." Once given access, a hacker could simple install malware and duplicate all customer information. Already facing critical financial issues during Covid 19, restaurants large and small need to take a stronger presence in the protection of their data. If discovered to be the start of a breach, customers will tend to avoid that business. "Chipotle, for example...got devalued by about $400 million after they suffered a breach," and many small restaurants "go belly up six months after an attack." Below is a summary of the types of attachs restaurants face: 1. Unprotected Wifi 2. Social engineering and phishing attacks. This is actually the one that stood out to me the most because of how sophisticated these attacks can be. It is a reminder that we are all at risk, both the technologically challenged and gifted. 3. Malware 4. Covid 19 Scams 5. Grub hub scams 6. Supply chain scams *A particular issue for restaurants and commercial businesses right now as companies scramble to find new vendors who can supply them with the products they require. 7. Public Health scams 8. Government Stimulus scams 9. Technical support scams How can we fight against these? Here are the recommendations: 1. PCI compliance 2. Hire and IT security professional to conduct a risk analysis and if possible, keep on as a consultant or full time 3. Keep a secure network and change free passwords daily 4. Use the latest operating systems, force multi-factor authentication, strong passwords, and use encryption services for data storage and transfers 5. Install and use robust web-filters and security software programs 6. Maybe most important!!! Train your employees. 5.
ahyla001

WiFi Proximity Marketing: Strategies and how they work | Purple - 3 views

  • time comm
  • QR (Quick Response) codesWiFi (Wireless Fidelity)NFC (Near Field Communication)RFID (Radio-frequency identification)GeofencingBLE (Bluetooth Low Energy) beacons
  • Besides the end-users mobile device, a collection of location-based technologies (LBS) is needed to successfully utilize proximity marketing.
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  • The downside to using the QR code strategy is getting users to make the initial interaction and additional print material may be necessary. 
  • Businesses can utilize their free WiFi offering as a new channel for marketing directly to customers.
  • NFC tag uses don’t stop at the point of sale system, in fact, the knowledge gained from each purchase and interaction further improves the insights businesses have, meaning over time, customer segmentation and messaging become more focussed.
  • The definition of geofencing in proximity marketing is defined as the ability of a company to micro-target people based on the places they go.
  • For example, a sportswear brand may want to target those at a sports event and so will draw their geometric radius around the venue of the event. Patrons that attend with their devices ‘location-enabled sensors’ settings turned on are allowing their GPS to share their location data with their service provider (SP).
  • The convenience store chain attached BLE beacons to trolleys, and baskets to track customer movements when entering, leaving, and moving around its stores. With the movable and planted roof beacons in place, Nisa was able to accurately collect a large pool of geometric insights that fed into one central cloud for further analysis. From these gatherings, Nisa will have been able to understand customer dwell times and see which product aisles were most popular.
  • Geo-loyalty is a method of utilizing proximity marketing methods to boost customer loyalty and drive app usage for higher conversion and engagement rates.
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    This article is about Proximity Marketing and the many different specific ways it may be applied. These applications include: QR Codes, WiFi, NFC, RFID, Geofencing, and BLE Beacons. In all of these cases, it is vital to proximity marketing that there be an end-user mobile device (such as an iPhone or Android) as well as location-based technologies. We are all fairly familiar with QR codes as those have become widely used during the pandemic. What we may not have considered though, is how logging into a WiFi gives a lot of information about you to the business, as well as a future means of communicating with you (assuming you made an account and/or gave them important information such as an email address). Geofencing is also really cool because it allows companies to set up a virtual boundary that collects data from mobile devices that pass through that boundary. This allows a business to truly know what kinds of consumers go in and out of whatever establishment the geofence outlines.
Jianyi Wang

HotelChatter Annual WiFi Report 2012: FAQ || HotelChatter - 0 views

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    We can learn from this article that guests had some problems using WiFi service during their stay in the hotels. These problems include signal stability, speed of the Internet, how to save their wi-fi payment and the download limitations in the hotel. As we will pursue our career in hospitality industry, it is important for us to identify these problems in the hotel we work. On the other hand, the engineering department and managers should pay attention to upgrade the internet system to ensure that our guests get considerable internet service.
Emily Bova

E-Commerce News: Ghost of Christmas Past Haunts Amazon - 0 views

  • Amazon's net income was US$177 million, or 38 cents per share, a 57 percent percent drop from a year ago.
  • Sales for the three months before Dec. 31 came out to $17.4 billion, lower than Wall Street expected over the traditionally busy holiday season.
  • Flooding in Thailand slowed down production for many tech companies this year
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  • The company used more third-party vendors than usual, which helps margins but cuts down drastically in revenue.
  • The world's largest online retailer has also been using promotions such as the Amazon Prime program, where customers can pay $79 a year to receive unlimited two-day shipping. The offer draws customers to the site, but over a busy holiday season, the shipping costs hit the retailer hard.
  • lower demand than it expected for video game sales and European currency fluctuations
  • A lot of people underestimate the profit of the e-book. You don't have to pay money for delivering or printing, so you can get tremendous revenue,"
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    In Amazon's last quarter, net income dropped by 57 percent from a year ago. Sales for the three months before December 31 came out to $17.4 billion, lower than Wall Street expected over the traditionally busy holidy season. It is predicted that for the next quarter outlook, there could be anywhere from a gain of $100 million to a loss of $200 million. While Amazon continues to profit in sales of its best selling Kindle devices, there were a variety of factors that contirbuted to its losses. The flooding in Thailand slowed down production for many tech companies. Third-party sellers (which give a 13% commission to Amazon as oppsoed to 100% commission when Amazon sells themselves) were used more than usual. Promotions such as the Amazon Prime program which allows the customer to pay a fixed rate and get umlimited two-day shipping hurt the retailer hard over the busy holiday season with shipping costs. Other reasons were lower demand for skimwords
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