Last week, several of our team members attended the HT-NEXT event in Orlando—a first-time collaboration of HTNG North America and Hotel Technology Forum. The event brought together hospitality technology thought leaders and included information from the Central Authentication workgroup presented by our very own VP of Product, Eric Sullender. When our team came home from the conference, the office was a buzz with all the exciting discussions, learnings and sessions, so we wanted to share our key insights as they relate to the future of guest Wi-Fi.

Ten years ago, if you looked to the future of hospitality technology, you probably would have never guessed that Wi-Fi would be at the core of guest engagement. As guest experiences rely more on mobile, hotel brands can leverage Wi-Fi authentication to identify loyal guests and reward them with a homelike experience that lets them create the personalized stay they they truly want. From streaming their own content to the in-room TV to controlling the room temperature and lighting to receiving location-based offers around the hotel, the Internet of Things (IoT) will be in full swing in 2017. Your Wi-Fi network is mission critical to enabling these connected experiences and building brand loyalty.

There are two primary ways to address guest demand for seamless, automatic connection to hotel Wi-Fi: Mac re-authentication and Passpoint. In this post we will explain how the technology works and the benefits and challenges of each.