A key challenge for holiday accommodation owners is meeting their guest’s expectations regarding wireless internet access (WiFi).
Accessing the internet has become an integral part of daily life; and most people expect to be able to get the same level of WiFi on holiday, as they do at home. Insufficient WiFi is a common complaint on TripAdvisor and can even deter potential guests from visiting.
David Thomas, Chairman of Exeter-based Bluegrass Group, highlights three key factors which must be considered, if you are looking to install, or upgrade, WiFi at your holiday accommodation.
The first consideration concerns delivery of the signal to the end user. Ensuring good guest connectivity requires creating a careful plan of the proposed site and then installing a resilient network for your needs. The more time you spend getting the survey right, then the quicker the installation and better delivery for your guests.
A mesh network is always the preferred option which, as its name suggests, creates a mesh allowing for resilience in the network. If an access point were to fail, or go offline, then your mesh network should make up for the missing component, allowing you to diagnose and repair the component without your guests knowing a thing.
With the latest cloud managed wireless solutions, the system reports back to your supplier to notify of a faulty component. In most cases, this can either be fixed remotely or will trigger a visit from an engineer, without your guests experiencing any connection issues.
The second matter to consider relates to guest usage. The point of failure for most wireless systems is disproportionate usage. Heavy usage by a minority can compromise the experience of the other users, regardless of the quality of your wireless system.
On average, a typical family takes ten internet enabled devises on holiday, so it’s easy to see how a few guests could monopolise the WiFi and prevent other guests from gaining access.
Putting in controls at the gateway, the actual point of connection to the worldwide web, is the most effective way to ensure an even distribution of usage. Limiting the amount of internet available to each guest, effectively assigning a quota, stops bandwidth hungry users from taking too much and creates a fair distribution method for all.
The final factor to consider is how to prevent illegal downloads and online activity. Unfiltered internet access is likely to be abused by some individuals, who take advantage of the anonymity of a public WiFi service. Even if a sign in page is required to gain access to WiFi services, these users may still choose to engage in illegal online activities on the dark web or via P2P file sharing sites.
Adding a web content WiFi filter for public WiFi will limit the activities that can take place and prevent the risk of prosecution for crimes such as copyright infringement.
To ensure the most efficient wireless system and best guest experience, seek the expertise of a WiFi expert and plan the system carefully.
Bluegrass is a highly respected and trusted provider of industry leading, outsourced IT support services to companies, from all industry sectors across the UK. Bluegrass delivers the complete IT package, from fully managed IT support to strategic advice; IT security; business continuity and cloud services.
If you would like more information, please contact David Thomas at Bluegrass on 01392 207194 or email David@bluegrass-group.com
Learn more at: www.bluegrass-group.com
For further information on holiday and park home industry issues, please contact our parks team on 01392 210700 or email parks@stephens-scown.co.uk.
This article first appeared in our holiday and residential park newsletter, read Explorer