November 30, 2023

RTC

Safe Travel USA

How to make sure your hotel’s signal is strong enough

"Today, having a robust Wi-Fi connection at a hotel is as important as having strong coffee in the morning," says Janice Ting, a senior product marketing manager for mobile products at Netgear.

Hotel Wi-Fi has always been a hit-or-miss thing. Sometimes, you get a fast connection. Other times, it’s slower than dial-up. But as the pandemic heads for the exit, wireless internet has been more hit than miss.

I recently stayed at a boutique hotel near Cape Town, South Africa, that was a “miss.” The connection stalled several times. The staff apologized repeatedly and tried to restart the lone wireless router in the lobby. But it did me no good. 

Why is this happening? Industry insiders say hotels put much-needed upgrades for wireless connections on hold during the pandemic as the lodging industry dealt with more pressing problems. 

Try our travel newsletter:  Get the latest headlines in your inbox daily

“Expectations for Wi-Fi are high,” says Janice Ting, a senior product marketing manager for mobile products at Netgear. “People are used to working, gaming, streaming and more from home on multiple devices, and they expect to do the same when they travel. Today, having a robust Wi-Fi connection at a hotel is as important as having strong coffee in the morning.”

The lodging industry knows it needs to up its game. Innisfree Hotels, which owns chain hotels in Florida and Georgia, is upgrading all of its properties with routers capable of a blazing 9.6 gigabytes per second, triple its current router speeds. But it’s been a challenge to keep up with the demand for fast connections.

“As the number of connectable devices per traveler increases, hospitality providers have to upgrade their systems,” says Scott Ford, the company’s marketing director.