Hotel Wi-Fi, the new five-star essential, and one of the easiest to put right

The first thing many guests now ask for is the Wi-Fi password. After nearly two decades supporting independent and group hotels across the UK, we look at how guest expectations have shifted, why the operational stakes have risen with them, and what good looks like in a hospitality-grade telecoms partner.

Why hotel Wi-Fi expectations have shifted

Ask any front-of-house team and they will tell you the same thing. The first request from a newly arrived guest is rarely about breakfast times or the spa booking. It is about the Wi-Fi.

When we surveyed UK hotel guests, eight in ten said they expect complimentary Wi-Fi to be there as a matter of course. Just 7% said they would not bother connecting their phone or laptop overnight, and more than 40% connect two or more devices on arrival. Although the survey was conducted in 2022, every conversation we have had with hoteliers since suggests the direction of travel has only intensified.

The most telling figure is the gap between expectation and experience. Hotels are in fact the best-performing part of UK hospitality on guest Wi-Fi – ahead of restaurants, pubs and cafes. Yet only 23% of guests describe themselves as completely satisfied with hotel Wi-Fi. For a guest used to a seamless, considered experience, the Wi-Fi cannot be the one detail that lets them down.
This is not really a technology story. It is a guest experience story that relies on technology.

The connections guests notice, and the network they don't

Guests use Wi-Fi to video call the children at bedtime, finish a pitch deck before dinner, stream a favourite series at the end of a long day, and check email almost constantly. Mobile data is rarely a substitute. Just 13% of UK mobile plans include unlimited data (Ofcom, 2024), leaving the great majority of guests reliant on hotel Wi-Fi when they are away from home.

43% of guests are more likely to return to a venue with strong free Wi-Fi. The link between connectivity and both repeat business and on-site spend is more direct than many might expect.

What guests do not see is the operational layer that the same network underpins. Reception phones, the property management system at check-in, EPOS in the restaurant, card machines, kitchen comms during service, table service in the bar. When any one of those falters, guests feel it even if they cannot pinpoint the cause. A guest does not blame the broadband for a slow check-in, a stalled card payment at the bar or a phone call that never reached reception. They blame the hotel.

And underpinning all of this sits another set of stakes guests rarely think about. Payment data, booking systems and the guest network itself all need to be properly separated and protected, and a breach lingers in reviews and search results long after the technical fix.

Why hospitality is harder than it looks

Most networks are designed for offices that close at six. Hotels close for nobody. They run twenty-four hours, with peak loads at the worst possible moments – a Friday check-in, a Saturday wedding, a fully booked bank holiday weekend. Properties are often listed, often rural, often spread across cottages, function suites, gardens and outbuildings. There is rarely an on-site IT team. The realities are different to a corporate fit-out, and the solution has to reflect that.

Our team has spent close to two decades meeting these challenges. From a 23-bed hotel and championship golf course hosting a Sky Sports broadcast with celebrities and tour players converging on site in a single weekend, to a Stockbridge boutique hotel mid-change of ownership where the previous system had to be lifted out without an hour of downtime, to a 19-bedroom Peak District country house replacing creaking 1980s ISDN as part of a wholesale refurbishment. Different sites, different demands. The same underlying need: connectivity that guests never have to think about, run by a team the hotel never has to chase.

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What good looks like in a partner

In our experience, the hotels that get this right tend to look for the same things in a provider. Separate, properly segmented networks for guests and business, so a wedding party streaming video does not slow a card machine in the restaurant. Hospitality-specialist support that picks up the phone at three in the morning because a hotel does. Plain English advice without jargon. A pragmatic approach to existing contracts, including readiness to step in at the right moment rather than pressuring an early exit. And, more often than not, a noticeable reduction in cost as old, layered, half-forgotten contracts are tidied up. Many hotels are quietly overspending on telecoms by twenty to thirty per cent without realising it.

As part of Marston’s plc, our roots are in hospitality. We have the carrier-grade network and resilience of a national operator, with the family-run responsiveness of a specialist team. We speak hospitality because we come from it.

A useful place to start

If you would like to know where your own setup currently stands, we offer a complimentary review. It is a clear, written assessment of what you are paying, what you are getting and where the quick wins are. No obligation to switch and no sales pressure, just an honest read on whether the connectivity underpinning your guest experience is doing the job you need it to do.

Book a complimentary connectivity review, or speak to the team on 01902 504 882.