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Three Mistakes Hotels Are Making with Wi-Fi
Posted: 09/18/2023

Wi-Fi is now like the foundation for your hotel: if it’s not solid, it can jeopardize everything.
Your HSIA network has to deliver the performance and experience your guests demand; Wi-Fi has evolved from being an amenity to a necessity and key driver of guest satisfaction.
In the converged world, all your systems for business operations depend on a solid and secure Wi-Fi network. Without it, nothing else works properly—your staff and systems will struggle, and you will waste precious time, money, and resources trying to recover.
Here are three things you may be doing that put you and your Wi-Fi network at risk, and what you should do instead.

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Definitely Doug 9/15/23: Experience Matters!
Posted: 09/15/2023

Hotels are usually the first thing a traveler books within a destination. And hotels usually know that destination better than anyone else (or any website) a guest might consult. But are hotels connecting the dots?

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Definitely Doug 8/25/23: Check It Off the List!
Posted: 08/25/2023

This week I will cover software that goes under various descriptions, including quality assurance, audit, and checklist management. It includes anything that involves a standard list of things that someone needs to perform or verify. In hospitality, this is still an emerging field, but is growing very rapidly.

Between 2020-2022, traveler adoptions fluctuated drastically due to the lockdowns, the impact of the variants, and the vaccination schedule. As the pandemic is behind us and people start to travel in 2023, one question is on every practitioner’s mind: What are the traveler’s current expectations and preferences in the post-pandemic world?

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Definitely Doug 8/11/23: Charge Me Up!
Posted: 08/11/2023

Few things make travelers more anxious than a mobile phone with a low battery. For years, hotels have tried to play catch-up with evolving mobile device charging standards, and many seem to have given up. Guests can sometimes find desktop or bedside USB ports (dated but still relevant charging standard), but most hotels offer only an electrical outlet, and too many times it is in the most difficult-to-reach location possible. Others have made expensive decisions to install USB ports on bedside tables or work desks, only to find them out of date when the standards changed – or broken by frequent use.

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Top 3 Hospitality Must-haves to be in the Techy Trend

09/20/2016

by Nimesh Dinubhai

The hotel industry is no different today than it was hundreds of years ago. Travelers still want a first-class product at the cheapest price possible, with ultimate customer service. The only thing that has really changed is the means in which we provide it. As advances in technology continue to rack the hospitality industry, owners and general managers are fervently scrambling to keep up with new technological trends. Let’s face it, that “unique and novel” experience doesn’t just happen on its own and today includes a variety of technological trends.

Mobility tops the list of technology trends that are a must for every hotel – independent or otherwise. Today’s customers want to browse hotels, compare prices, read reviews and finally book rooms all from their tablets or cell phones. Everyone is on the go, go, go and no one has time to be sitting at a desktop for anything other than required work; especially now that everything can be done within minutes from your phone. I can easily say that in the last two years, the majority of my travel plans; whether it was flights or hotel rooms, was searched for and booked from my cell phone.

Direct bookings are also high on the rise and is definitely the marketing trend to look at right now. Hotels that have their own website, apart from the brand website, have the ability to be custom designed to avoid the “one size fits all” template that was once the norm. Hotel owners are seeking the professional services of Web designers to create masterpiece websites loaded with features like direct booking links, virtual tours and dropdowns for everything from dining and entertainment to local attractions.

Social media marketing hit the hospitality industry with a storm. If your hotel is not blogged on, shared, reviewed or liked on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, then you are definitely out of the loop. TripAdvisor is every traveler’s go-to resource to review and research hotel and vacation destinations. Social media sites like Facebook and Twitter are right behind TripAdvisor, allowing customers to interact with other guests and read up-to-the-minute news on upcoming specials and events.

These are just the top three techy trends that are a must. But these do not even skim the water. Wearable technology, mobile keys and PMS technology are next on the must have list. Is your hotel a part of the technology trend? If not, consider revising your marketing strategies; now more than ever before the next storm comes in.

About The Author

Nimesh Dinubhai
President
Websrefresh

Nimesh Dinubhai completed his studies in 2003 and launched Websrefresh to help businesses grow their ROI. He also owns two Arizona hotels, one of which earned the Historical Hotel Award in 2014.