Wi-Fi is top hotel amenity – make secure Wi-Fi a competitive advantage

Posted by Geraldine Hunt on Tue, Oct 12th, 2021

Why is secure Wi-Fi so important to hotel guests? The business traveler depends on Wi-Fi to stay in touch with customers and the home office. Young people count on access to social media and gaming 24-7. We all expect it at coffee shops and fast-food restaurants. So it's only natural that hotel guests now take it for granted. Without a secure connection, guests and visitors could find themselves accessing dangerous online content or falling victim to a malware or cyber hacking attack. A cloud based web content filtering solution protects guests from being exposed to inappropriate website content on other guests´ mobile devices, but it can also mitigate the risk of a guest inadvertently downloading malware onto their own device.

Wi-Fi the top hotel amenity

Hotel Wi-Fi is no longer a perk, it's a standard service that is expected by guests.  Even budget motels advertise “Free Wi-Fi” on their marquee.  Guests expect free, fast,  stable and most importantly secure Wi-Fi. Travelers can research hotels to check the expected speed and reliability of the network, before making reservations. There are dedicated websites that allow guests to do this. The Forrester/Hotels.com study reported that reviewers do not tout hotels for great Internet access but batter those whose Wi-Fi offerings didn’t meet their expectations.

Ensuring hotel Wi-Fi is safe

While Wi-Fi is considered a basic requirment these days, many hotels lack the necessary provisions to offer another standard – fully secure Wi-Fi.  Security must be a standard function of any IT network today.  Hotel Wi-Fi is extremely vulnerable to all sorts of threats. The very nature of Wi-Fi, with traffic from all devices broadcast over the airwaves, makes any public Wi-Fi network insecure. In general, hotels have not implemented business class cloud based web filtering and many hotels do not restrict the sites guests can view, which leaves them wide open to attack.

Four basic steps you can take to take to ensure that your hotel’s Wi-Fi is protected.

Step 1 to ensure  your hotel’s Wi-Fi is protected.

Implement cloud based content filtering. Cloud based content filtering should be part of every hotel Wi-Fi implementation.  For some users, the hotel web filter may be the only security mechanism protecting their device as many users fail to use endpoint protection or enable their internal firewalls.

Cloud based content filtering doesn’t mean you have to purchase and maintain expensive hardware.  There are several cloud based web filtering solutions that simply route all of your traffic through their filtering system.  A reputable cloud based web filtering filter like WebTitan can block access to malware and credential phishing sites.  Many cloud based filtering solutions include a malware gateway that scans all web traffic for malicious code threats. 

Another added benefit is the ability to block other website categories that tailor to your clientele.  For instance, if you cater to young families, you may choose to block access to sites that contain adult themes or offensive content.  All of this can be managed through a simple web GUI interface using your web browser.

Guests want safe reliable internet access

• Wi-Fi security is important.  The reputational damage that unsafe internet access can cause is substantial and difficult if not impossible for a business to recover from. A hotel or campsite certainly can’t claim to be family friendly if they allow porn or illegal websites to be accessed on their Wi-Fi network.
• An unsafe network is worse that no Wi-Fi at all. Business travelers must feel  they can access sensitive data securely. In general, guests should not be hesitant to enter usernames and passwords for fear they will be stolen. 
• Accessing a hotel network should not lead to a malware infection in guests’ devices; the hotel will be slammed on social networks if they are a source of malware.

How do you provide such a network?

Using WebTitan Cloud for Wi-Fi, a cloud based content filtering solution for your Wi-Fi environment.  It provides a secure setting for Wi-Fi guests to browse online by preventing exposure to inappropriate content and protecting the integrity of the network by blocking malware. It takes care of all the complexities of content filtering and security while presenting a logical interface that requires no training. It requires NO software installation and NO need for technical expertise to set up or manage customer accounts – it’s that simple. You can create new accounts easily and manage any number of hotel locations.

Secure Wi-Fi = faster Wi-Fi

Cloud based web filtering for malware and ads not only protects the hotel network, it also increases network speed by reducing the amount of data that is transmitted.  With WebTitan Cloud for Wi-Fi, web access policy can be set for each Wi-Fi access point. This can be a competitive advantage for hotels that cater to families. Parents can be confident that their children are browsing the web in a protected environment.

Cloud based web filtering affords hotels the opportunity to introduce tiered Wi-Fi services. For example, “minimal Wi-Fi” for email access only could be free. Beyond this, non-video internet access could be available at a nominal charge or perhaps free for members of the hotel's loyalty program. A premium service with premium prices could be created for guests that want to stream Netflix or other streaming services.

Help your guests use Wi-Fi:

• Make sure that your guests know the name of your Wi-Fi network: Normally, multiple wireless networks are available near a hotel. Cybercriminals set up “rogue networks” with names similar to that of the hotel’s Wi-Fi network, hoping that guests will join their network and divulge usernames and passwords or proprietary business information.
• Offer a secure login page for signing on: The "https://" prefix ensures the login page is encrypted to protect guests’ personal information.

Hotels can exercise total control over Internet content by using WebTitan, a cloud based web content filtering solution. WebTitan is a cloud based web filter suitable for hotels of all sizes. With highly granular and flexible controls it allow hotel operators to apply different settings for  guests, employees, and  various hotel departments.

To find out more about the benefits of WebTitan Cloud based filtering for Wi-Fi contact the TitanHQ team today. Your guests will thank you for it. Talk to a specialist or  Email us at info@titanhq.com with any questions.