Giving hotel guests the five-bar seamless connectivity experience they expect

Today’s guests expect reliable indoor mobile coverage when visiting hotels and resorts – and will consider taking their business elsewhere if it’s not available.

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Jack Martin, Commercial Development Manager at Cellnex UK, explores how today’s 4G and 5G in-building connectivity solutions are enhancing the guest experience – and making it possible for hotels to enable a range of smart, value-added services.

Everyone expects great mobile coverage all the time. However, connectivity is even more important when people are travelling for work or taking some well-earned time away with family and friends.

With so many people using smart phones with unlimited data plans, hotels and hospitality venues are under increasing pressure to ensure every visitor gets to enjoy a great mobile phone signal throughout their location.

Alongside using their smart phones to do everything from checking-in and paying for their stay, guests are now turning to mobile apps that conveniently enable access to a raft of additional services. Using these on-line applications, they can order food & beverages, with options to book treatments and additional leisure services throughout their stay, and even repurpose their mobile devices as room keys. However, none of this is possible without reliable in-building connectivity.

Similarly, today’s guests increasingly want ‘smart’ in-room amenities that allow them to access audio and visual entertainment applications like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Spotify, and cast them onto their guestroom TV screen. Of course, they need fast connectivity to access their accounts and stream these services.

Poor mobile connectivity is a deal breaker

Unsurprisingly, poor mobile phone coverage is rapidly becoming a deal breaker. In today’s hyper-competitive hospitality market, where reputations and bookings can be impacted by negative comments on review sites like Trip Advisor, great connectivity is both a commercial necessity and a basic utility that customers expect. If guests can’t stay connected to work, family or friends, the experience is compromised.

It’s not just the hotel and resort guests that need it. Areas of poor or non-existent connectivity also pose a risk to the smooth operation of back-of-house and facilities management functions. Issues arise when frontline staff members can’t communicate with one another effectively, either for the ongoing operation of the property or to address guest requests.

Poor connectivity can disrupt the handling of payments away from fixed points-of-sale devices and can impact the ability of staff to provide a great customer experience.

Opportunities to share the personal preferences of VIP guests will be missed, real-time requests not registered with the front desk on-time, means staff are unable to perform their roles effectively

Why not Wi-Fi?

While it’s true that hotels are increasingly offering free Wi-Fi, this isn’t the ideal solution for all guests’ needs. Business professionals want to keep their data and important documents secure when staying in hotels or visiting as conference delegates. They certainly don’t want to pay for Wi-Fi, and will be concerned that free public options are inherently less secure. Therefore, many will choose to use their own mobile data to send or receive information.

There are other business related issues too, particularly if hotels want to maximise the value of their spaces and attract corporate events. The process of connecting to a hotel’s Wi-Fi network is often a cumbersome experience. When users do manage to get the access codes and log on, the slower speeds and dropped sessions common to highly congested networks – especially during periods of peak demand – can be highly frustrating for delegates and very disrupting for event organisers.

In a world where 4G and 5G can provide a better experience than Wi-Fi, reliable mobile connectivity is no longer a nice to have, it’s an absolute necessity.

Factors that contribute to poor indoor mobile connectivity

It’s very common for people to experience great mobile reception and fast mobile data speeds outdoors. Indoors it’s a different story. Thick-walls, insulation, concrete and steel structures and the use of metallised-glass in the building’s construction can reduce the signal strength from mobile network operators or block them completely. Often, the larger the building, the bigger the problem.

The result is poor performing or unreliable connectivity throughout the building, and especially below ground. This is a situation that’s set to get worse as today’s 4G networks transition to 5G connectivity. Here, 5G signals operate at a higher frequency and are therefore even more sensitive to disruption by physical infrastructure considerations.

Added to which, hotels also need to ensure that when they address the connectivity challenge, they have a multi-operator solution in place to ensure every guest can connect with their device.

Closing the hotel connectivity gap

New indoor solutions are radically enhancing the delivery of in-building connectivity. These neutral host services, like the latest distributed antenna systems (DAS) and small cells, now make it much easier to cost effectively deliver consistent 4G and 5G mobile signals.

These in-building solutions transmit the mobile signal from network operators and distribute them through the building via a network of small antennas. The result is strong and consistent mobile connectivity throughout.

Assuring robust, ultra-fast performance and seamless access for users across all areas of the property is just one benefit hotels stand to gain. Requiring minimal equipment or space, Cellnex In-Building Connectivity Solutions are simple and easy to deploy – and can be delivered in weeks rather than months. Built to rigorous industry specifications, hotels also receive network management and 24×7 monitoring as standard. Plus, solutions are compatible with every mobile network operator – which means no user is excluded from enjoying an optimised connectivity experience.

Proven across the UK’s hospitality sector, Cellnex In-Building Connectivity Solutions help hotels close the coverage and capacity gaps to customer satisfaction and enable the delivery of new value-added opportunities.

To find out more, or to discuss your specific requirements, get in touch at In-BuildingSolutions@cellnextelecom.co.uk