Hotel Owner April 2018 | Page 50

MARKETING MATTERS | ANGIE PETKOVIC Social Wifi Every month ANGIE PETKOVIC picks one of your questions to answer in her regular column. To have your Marketing Matter considered, email one of the team or send to Angie directly By ANGIE PETKOVIC Q: I’ve been approached by a company • Legal protection – this is perhaps the user can significantly impact on the speed offering ‘social Wifi’ which I have never single biggest benefit to offering WiFi that for another. For example, if one user is heard of before. They claim I’ll get all sorts of needs a login, and is usually the least valued. streaming, another will experience slower marketing and data benefits. Have you used You cannot control what your guests do on than normal speeds while trying to send an this before, and what are your thoughts? your Wifi, and there is the potential for them email. These guest Wifi set-ups allow you to A: Absolutely. ‘Social Wifi’ is brilliant, and there to stream, download or share information manage not only the maximum bandwidth are loads of benefits for your hotel. The key is which has a copyright. If they do this on a user can use at any one time, but also the not to waste money if you aren’t going to use a ‘public’ portal, which they access with a maximum data they can use within a given it properly. password, then the hotel will be unable to period without paying for more. This will vary prove who shared the content and therefore per supplier, so check the small print. What is social Wifi? you will be liable for any fines, sanctions and Often referred to as ‘guest Wifi’, this is a Wifi legal disputes. By having a login, specific General tips platform set-up, which lets you: activities will be logged against each user, If I’ve convinced you of the benefits of n  Offer your guests free Wifi in your and should the worse happen, you will be introducing this kind of portal, then you public areas, and potentially the able to ask your provider to confirm exactly need to think about the specifics for your bedrooms too. This is perfect for the guest which guest is responsible. I have seen business. Look at the costs of each platform, experience. I know many hotels already copyright infringement cases with fines of the installation requirements and lead time, have this facility, but getting your IT thousands of pounds, all easily avoided with the data costs and restrictions, what you can company to set up a ‘public’ sector of your a login. and cannot do with the portal, and of course existing internet provision, does not take • Branded portals – the guest needs to login advantage of the extra benefits created and therefore they need a website landing market to it (it should be you). Importantly, you by having social Wifi, including: page through which they complete said also need to get the sign-up questions right; • Require them to login. The login may login. This page will be yours to control and don’t just ask for their name or email. Think seem counter to guest experience, however can be changed on a whim so you can run about capturing their reasons for the visit for the very small inconvenience for your guest real-time offers that last only a short time, example, or their home postcode. This will is far outweighed by two core benefits for add repeat visit marketing messages and help you to segment the data and refine the the hotel: even promote what’s new in the hotel. All marketing messages in the future. • Access to data – by encouraging them guests will see this when they go to login, so to sign-up with the email, or login with their it’s a powerful, real-time messaging board. social media account, you capture data that Where to get it? There are a lot of suppliers out there, some you can market to, which you might not to trigger push notifications to a logged-in which exist specifically for ‘social Wifi’ such otherwise obtain. What data you capture user. Push notifications are messages which as ’Wireless Social’ and ‘Purple Wifi’, and will vary according to the supplier you have appear on screen at a specific time, and some that offer this service as part of a wider chosen. However, via their portals, you will can be released when someone has been offering, for example Eurolink Connect. Both be able to obtain marketing consent at connected for a set-length of time e.g. two have their strengths and it’s all about what the time of sign-up, and then you’re free to hours, or can be time bound in another way you need as a business, and what they can do market to them as part of your database. for example Tuesday 10th at 10am. This for you. Don’t forget, not all your ‘guests’ will actually allows you to send real-time messages to be staying with you, so you have the a user who is actively logged in, and I have Angie Petkovic is managing potential to capture the data for meeting seen this used to great effect to sell coffee director of APT Marketing & PR. delegates, people who use the bar or and cake for elevenses for example. If you have a marketing matter restaurant and even people in the vicinity who can pick up your signal. 50 n S  ome suppliers will offer the opportunity who ‘owns’ the data and has the right to www.hotelowner.co.uk n R  estrict traffic and usage. On a traditional Wifi set-up, the actions of one you’d like Angie to answer, email [email protected] April 2018