The connected hotel guest journey: from check-in to check-out
The hotel guest journey is becoming increasingly digital. Booking confirmations live on smartphones. Check-in is moving online. Hotel apps are becoming more sophisticated. Rooms are becoming smarter. Business travellers are working from wherever they happen to be.
Behind all of these experiences is something guests rarely think about until it lets them down: mobile connectivity.
For hotels, delivering a great digital experience is no longer just about offering good Wi-Fi. It is about understanding how guests use their devices throughout their stay and making sure the building can support them. So, what does the connected hotel guest journey actually look like?
Before arrival: the guest journey has already started
The hotel experience begins before a guest walks through the door. They may have booked through an app, received their confirmation by email, downloaded a digital room key or checked directions on their phone. Business travellers might me answering emails or joining calls right up until they arrive.
By the time they reach the hotel, their smartphone is already an important part of their journey. That reliance doesn’t disappear at the entrance. A guest moving from the street into the lobby expects their mobile service to continue with them. Yet this is often the point where the experience can change, as outdoor mobile signals meet energy-efficient glass, steel, concrete and other materials that can make it difficult for signal to travel into and throughout a building.
Arrival and check-in: removing unnecessary friction
The traditional hotel check-in is changing. Digital check-in, loyalty apps, QR coded and mobile room keys are becoming more common, giving guests greater choice over how they arrive and access their stay. These services are designed to make the experience easier. But every digital touchpoint relies on the guest being able to connect. This make hotel mobile connectivity part of a much wider shift towards frictionless hospitality. It isn’t about adding another visible feature for guests. In many ways, the best connectivity is the connectivity they don’t have to think about at all.
The hotel room: more than somewhere to sleep
Perhaps the biggest change in the hotel guest journey is what happens once the bedroom door closes. For leisure guests, the room might be somewhere to stream content, make video calls, plan the next day’s activities or keep in touch with home. For business travellers, it can become a temporary office. Calls, emails, messaging platforms, authentication apps and cloud-based services are all part of the modern working day. A guest may need to approve a login, tether their laptop to their phone or take an important call before heading to a meeting.
This is where reliable mobile signal in hotels can make a real difference. Hotel rooms can also be some of the hardest areas to reach using outdoor mobile signal alone, particularly in large, high-rise or complex buildings.
Understanding how indoor mobile coverage performs across bedrooms, rather than simply in reception or other communal areas, is therefore an important part of assessing the hotel’s overall digital experience.
Beyond the bedroom: connectivity follows the guest
A hotel stay isn’t confined to a guest room. Breakfast might be in the restaurant. The morning could include a conference downstairs. The afternoon might be spent working in the lobby before an evening in the bar, gym or spa. Each space creates a different environment for mobile connecitvity.
Basements and internal rooms can be difficult for outdoor signals to reach. Busy conference areas can see large numbers of people using their devices simultaneously. Lifts, corridors and other transitional spaces can create gaps in an otherwise good experience.
For larger hotels and resorts, this makes consistency particularly important. Instead of asking whether the hotel ‘has mobile signal’, it can be more useful to ask where it works well, where it doesn’t and whether that changes as guests move through the building.
Meetings and events: connectivity becomes part of the venue proposition
For hotels competing for conferences, meetings and corporate events, connectivity has another role to play. Hundreds or even thousands of delegates can arrive carrying smartphones, tablets and laptops, while organisers increasingly use event apps, digital ticketing, QR coded and online content throughout the day. Reliable 4G and 5G indoor mobile coverage can complement the hotel’s Wi-Fi network and give delegates more ways to stay connected.
It can also matter to the business choosing where to hold their events. Location, capacity, catering and accommodation will always be important. But as events become more digital, the quality of the underlying connectivity is increasingly part of the infrastructure that makes them work.
Wi-Fi and mobile: two parts of the same guest experience
Wi-Fi and mobile networks serve different needs. Hotel Wi-Fi gives guests access to an internet connection provided by the venue. The mobile network allows them to continue using the services associated with their own mobile operator, including calls, text and mobile data.
Guests move between the two constantly, often without giving it much thought. That is why the conversation around hotel connectivity is increasingly about creating a complete connected environment rather than choosing between Wi-Fi and mobile. Both have an important role to play.
What can hotels do about poor indoor mobile coverage?
The first step is to understanding the building. Mobile performance can vary significantly by floor, room, operator and area of the hotel, so assumptions based on the signal outside, or even in the lobby, don’t necessarily reflect the guest experience throughout the property.
A detailed assessment can identify where coverage is strong, where gaps exist and what may be causing them. Where improvement is needed, dedicated indoor mobile infrastructure can be used to bring mobile services into the building.
Depending on the property, this might include a Distributed Antenna System (DAS) or another type of indoor mobile network designed around the building and its requirements.
A neutral host network can provide shared infrastructure capable of supporting multiple mobile network operators, helping hotels deliver a more consistent experience for guests regardless of which network they use.
For owners and operators considering new developments or major refurbishments, thinking about indoor mobile connectivity during the design process can also be much easier than addressing coverage problems after the guests have moved in.
Check-out: the journey continues
The final interaction with the hotel is increasingly digital too. Invoices arrive by email. Transport is booked through apps. Boarding passes sit in digital wallets. Guests might check out remotely or spend another hour working from the lobby before travelling home.
The connected journey that started before arrival continues after the guest leaves and that is perhaps the most important point for hotels. Connectivity is no longer a standalone amenity used at one particular point during a stay. It sits across the entire guest experience.
Building a connected hotel experience
Hotels are investing in smarter, more personalised and more seamless experiences for their guests. But the success of those experiences depends on the digital foundations beneath them. For hotel owners, operators and developers, that means thinking beyond Wi-Fi and considering how mobile services perform across the entire property, from reception and bedrooms to conference facilities, restaurants and shared spaces.
At WIG, we design, build, operate and maintain indoor mobile networks that help hotels provide reliable mobile coverage throughout their buildings. Our neutral host approach can support all major UK mobile network operators through shared infrastructure designed around the needs of the property.
Planning a new hotel, refurbishment or looking to improve mobile coverage within an existing property? Talk to WIG about creating a more connected guest experience.
