Today, great Wi-Fi is about more than just connecting devices—it is about connecting people to your brand. People spend more than 50% of their time on Wi-Fi. Your guest network must be able to not only handle this growing traffic, but also to identify and engage your most loyal guests.

People today expect to be connected always and everywhere; sometimes it's hard to believe that there was a world before smartphones and Wi-Fi. In the time since Wi-Fi became ubiquitous in hotels, apartments, and public spaces, it has fueled the evolution of connectivity in a lot of ways. Just like Maslow's hierarchy of needs, the most basic needs start at the bottom, and you can't get to the next level without a strong foundation. 

Last week some of our team members joined hospitality's brightest minds to talk technology at the HT-NEXT conference in San Diego. We engaged in meaningful conversations, attended informative sessions, and came home with several great insights about how hotel brands develop their Wi-Fi strategy for today—and tomorrow.

Spring Breakers Beware! Much ado has been made about hotel Wi-Fi security since a recent report from the Today Show showed just how easy it is for hackers to tap guests’ personal information via hotel Wi-Fi. Unsuspecting sunbathers naively connect poolside only to learn a nefarious hacker has secretly duped them into authenticating on to a fake Wi-Fi network that closely resembles the hotel’s.

As a follow-up to our recent article in Hospitality Upgrade, “The Future of Hotel Wi-Fi”, we have pulled together our insights plus thoughts from some of the industry’s best and brightest to present you with our top six predictions for hotel connectivity in 2018.