Acerca de

Often when we discuss offering free WiFi to restaurant guests, we hear one big question: “What’s in it for us?” Some restaurant owners are wary of guest WiFi, fearing it will slow table turnover, but we’re confident that there are many great benefits to offering free WiFi to your customers:

​

1. Longer stays = larger ticket sizes. Having WiFi available encourages guests to spend longer amounts of time in your restaurant or café, leading to increased ticket size from people refueling on coffee and food during the day.

2. Repeat business and increase in organic advertising. If you offer your guests fast, reliable WiFi, you’re going to start seeing the same faces returning to your restaurant. The more they return, the more likely they’ll recommend you to others. And when they come back next time, they’re also likely to bring more people with them: friends for get-togethers, family members for a good meal, or business partners for meetings. This means more business for you, and better word-of-mouth too.

3. Social WiFi. Although most restaurants now offering WiFi use a classic sign-in experience, there’s a new kid in town: social WiFi. Social WiFi simplifies the login process by using popular social accounts, like Facebook or Instagram, as a way for guests to login to your WiFi. In return for giving them free WiFi access, you gain better knowledge of your guests and can market to them with targeted promotions. In a recent 4-month test at 54 locations, Subway, one of the first larger chains to implement social WiFi, found that over 16,000 new users joined their loyalty program during that time. Could your restaurant benefit from that kind of customer connection?

4. Differentiator from the competition. Many people, especially the coveted millennial generation, have come to expect WiFi to be available wherever they go. If you offer free, fast, reliable WiFi, that’s one more feature that enhances your guest experience. And if free WiFi makes customers choose your restaurant instead of a competitor, that’s a win for your business.

5. Accelerate local brand awareness. While new digital technologies are making it easier in some ways to reach mass audiences, it’s also becoming more difficult to get noticed among the noise of countless other brands. Going local can be one thing that helps you stand out. According to a report by the National Restaurant Association, over half of adult consumers are more likely to eat at a restaurant that supports their local community. Connecting with your customers via free WiFi can help you share content that’s locally relevant, which may have a more positive impact on your bottom line than impersonal national advertising.

 

For more information about our managed WiFi solutions, an excellent approach to making guest WiFi easier for restaurants, please visit this page.

 

Example: Restaurant Predictive Heatmap

Great WiFi is Simple!

 

With Hospitality WiFi International’s WiFi as a Service, offering great guest-centered WiFi can be simple. The following graphic illustrates how the system might look in a typical small restaurant.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

WiFi as a Service is flexible and scalable for use in just about any space where you need guest WiFi:

​

• We install one or more access points (APs), depending on restaurant size, construction, and layout.

• APs are connected by CAT6 to incoming Internet, such as in the restaurant office or kitchen

• The primary AP handles authentication, communication, bandwidth use, security, and more.

• A VLAN can separate the guest network from the office/POS network(s) for greater security.

 

Give us a call and we’d be happy to discuss how WiFi as a Service can improve the guest WiFi at your property!