A few years ago, hotel WiFi was an amenity that you boasted about to your guests — and if it was free, all the better. Now, however, guests no longer consider free WiFi to be a benefit to booking with you. Rather, it’s an expectation that they have of high-quality accommodation providers across the globe.

While offering free WiFi is an investment in your guest satisfaction ratings and is integral to your ongoing hotel marketing, it can also be beneficial to you as a hotel operator via data collection.

How Can B&Bs Use WiFi to Capture Data?

You need accurate data about your guests and your potential guests in order to create a targeted and effective marketing strategy.
It can be difficult to gather data about guests when you are promoting your hotel to a vast range of people, but many hotel operators have no idea that they can use their hotel WiFi to collect data.
For example, a free WiFi connection can be used in order to get information about the people who are staying with you.
If you offer WiFi, you should require visitors who are logging on to provide their email address before they connect.
This allows you to see who is utilizing your services, and also gives you an opportunity to reach out to customers who are interested in booking with you.
You can limit the connection time to an hour or two in order to minimize local residents from abusing the opportunity to connect for free. For guests who are staying with you, you can provide them with an access code that will allow them to connect for the duration of their stay.

What Can You Do with the Data You Capture?

By collecting this data, you can begin to increase the revenue that you generate at your property.
Here are a few tips for generating revenue with guests’ data:

  • Collect, organize and analyze the data that you receive from WiFi connections. You can see what types of websites and social networks your guests prefer, and you also can obtain valuable contact information.
  • Use your WiFi login page to promote special events or promotions.
  • Adapt your marketing in order to accommodate the new information you have received about your guests. You may decide to launch a new marketing idea on a social networking site, or use your new email list in order to send out a promo code.

When it comes to online property management, you will want to broadcast the perks and amenities of staying at your hotel.
Free hotel WiFi allows you to attract guests from around the globe, who have become dependent and reliant on their favorite mobile devices. However, you also can use this connection in order to generate valuable hotel data that can help you improve your hotel property management strategy.
Accurate hotel data is necessary to improving your business operations, increasing your bookings, and boosting your presence in the tourism industry.

By Dean Elphick

Dean is the Senior Content Marketing Specialist of Little Hotelier, the all-in-one software solution purpose-built to make the lives of small accommodation providers easier. Dean has made writing and creating content his passion for the entirety of his professional life, which includes more than six years at Little Hotelier. Through content, Dean aims to provide education, inspiration, assistance, and, ultimately, value for small accommodation businesses looking to improve the way they run their operations (and live their life).