WiFi for large hotels: coverage in every room, control from a single platform

In a hotel, WiFi is no longer an extra: it is part of the room. And an event hall without a good connection is a harder hall to sell.

At Aiscnet we have designed and installed WiFi networks in multiple hotels with a large number of rooms, event halls and common areas. Every hotel is different, but the model we apply is the same. This case summarizes it.

The challenge: many networks in one building

What we deliver

Separate networks on one infrastructure

The administrative network and the guest network travel separately end to end, with rules that prevent traffic from crossing between them. A guest never has visibility of the hotel systems.

Open areas such as the lobby, restaurants and terraces also run as separate networks with their own bandwidth control, so usage in those spaces does not affect the rooms or the operation.

Redundancy

The equipment the whole network depends on is installed in a redundant configuration: if one fails, another takes over.

User authentication and validation

No one browses without being validated, and every user gets the bandwidth assigned to them. How users are validated is defined with each hotel, according to its operation:

When the network is integrated with the hotel system, the guest journey looks like this:

1. Arrival

   The hotel registers the guest

2. Auto provisioning

   Network access is created

3. Connection

   Through the hotel portal

4. Browsing

   With the assigned bandwidth

5. Departure

   Access closes by itself

This way no access remains open for guests who have already left.

Coverage designed from the room

A network can show a good signal in the hallway and fail exactly where the guest uses it. That is why we design and verify coverage inside every room and in every space of the hotel.

High density in event areas

In halls and event centers the challenge is not coverage but capacity. We use more access points at lower power and careful channel planning, so the network keeps its planned performance with a full hall.

Not tied to a brand

We are vendor agnostic. We work with Cisco and Cisco Meraki, Ruijie Reyee and Ubiquiti UniFi solutions, among other leading brands in the market, and choose the equipment according to the building, the operation and the budget of each hotel, integrating it with what is already installed when it makes sense.

Our analysis process for a WiFi project

The difference between a network that works and one that generates complaints is usually defined before the first device is installed.

1. 1

   Assessment

   Floor plans, construction materials, number of rooms, hall capacity and the systems the hotel already has.

2. 2

   Coverage and capacity design

   We model the network on the floor plans to define how many access points are needed and where.

3. 3

   On-site validation

   We measure in the actual building to confirm or correct the design.

4. 4

   Phased implementation

   By floor or area, coordinated with operations, so staying guests are not affected.

5. 5

   Verification

   We check coverage in every room and every space before handover.

6. 6

   Operation and support

   The installation is integrated into our management system.

Centralized management and support

Every installation on a single platform

Each installation is integrated with our management system. From there we control the status of each network and each device and provide support, without waiting for a guest to complain to find out about a failure. For a group with several hotels, it means a single view of all its properties and the same standard in each one.

What it means for each area