Posted: 3rd March, 2025
In this blog, I’ll share some of my top tips for network engineers who manage, support, and deploy networks in the hospitality sector, especially hotels.
I used to work for Airangel, an MSP in the UK with a significant EMEA market share. We had a leading portal service known as Captivnet and used MikroTik gateways, along with a managed networking service primarily consisting of RUCKUS Networks and Cisco Meraki hardware for switching and Wi-Fi APs. I spent my time designing, surveying, configuring, and troubleshooting these networks for just over 4 years at Airangel and prior to that 3.5 years at Arqvia.
Tip #1 Communication is key
If you’re on-site to deploy a new network, make sure you engage with the right people. While the maintenance team might be important for physical install work such as cabling, if you drop the existing network and only maintenance knows, the front desk and GM are going to be your problem. Make sure you keep the GM and front desk informed of all works, especially at times when you expect a loss of connectivity.
Tip #2 Use VLANs it is not that hard
This seems so obvious, yet we still often see flat networks when taking over from an incumbent provider. At a minimum, using VLANs makes your life easier when onboarding multiple vendors onto a managed network. When you start experiencing issues with phones, TVs, lights, door locks, admin devices, and other use cases, troubleshooting a flat network is going to be a nightmare.
You can also end up with excessive broadcast and/or multicast traffic where you don’t want it, degrading your network’s performance. Finally, all sorts of people travel for work – some ethical hackers and others less so. Do you want your property’s or customers reputation destroyed by someone messing with the network?
Tip #3 Keep it simple
Keep it simple and standardise everything you can. I used to love going off on a tangent and over-engineering things because it was fun. What isn’t fun is when the on-call engineer doesn’t understand those changes and is calling you at 1 am or worse.
Have a baseline config that meets most needs. Where possible across your estate, keep VLAN numbers the same, internal subnets consistent, switch port configs standardised, and naming conventions uniform. Document everything. Visio is still a great tool for physical & logical topologies.
Tip #4 Learn a bit about IGMP snooping
You don’t need to be a multicast wizard, but knowing a bit about IGMP snooping will help a lot. I remember the first time a vendor wanted to add an IPTV solution to one of our sites and I was stumped. A bit of Googling and a few phone calls later, we got it working, but I wish I had known more than I did! I had the IT manager asking why the TV network wasn’t working a day before the site launch, which was rather stressful, to say the least.
A useful reference on IGMP snooping:
Juniper IGMP Snooping Overview
Also make sure to review your vendor’s configuration guides and request network requirements from the solutions provider.
Tip #5 Turn on wireless client isolation
Another seemingly obvious one, but do you really want your guests to be able to discover other guest devices across the network? By enabling client isolation you prevent wireless clients on the same network from being able to communicate with one another. For devices that need to be accessible, such as printers, you can add their MAC addresses to a whitelist.
Tip #6 Keep the SSID count down
I’ve been in so many hotels where there’s an SSID for everything you can think of. What makes it even more strange is when different SSIDs have unique passphrases but sit on the same VLAN…yeah pointless.
Combine SSIDs where it makes sense, and use vendor options such as DPSK from RUCKUS. This allows you to assign a VLAN based on the passphrase entered by the user. By merging SSIDs, you reduce wireless management overhead, freeing up time for clients and APs to transmit data frames, ultimately speeding up your wireless network.
Tip #7 Put the Wi-Fi where your users are or set expectations correctly
I hear a lot of complaints about hotel Wi-Fi being terrible because APs are in corridors. I sort of agree, APs should be in rooms, and most vendors offer wall plate APs like the RUCKUS H550 or the Meraki MR36H.
The problem though, is that unless the hotel is undergoing a décor refresh or is a greenfield site, they’re unlikely to pay for new data runs to rooms. It’s simply too much disruption and cost. If this is the case, ensure the customer understands and accepts the limitations. If they’re only offering basic Wi-Fi access, corridor APs will likely suffice however may not meet brand standards such as -65dBm 5GHz coverage in all bedrooms. They are also unlikely to get 6GHz coverage which may not be a requirements now but you can guarantee it will in the future. And they expect IPTV solutions and casting to work reliably over Wi-Fi, a corridor-based solution won’t cut it. Be honest and transparent, as you’ll only be blamed otherwise.
Tip #8 Do a wireless survey before and after your deployment
Most wireless engineers will tell you this, yet so many people still don’t do it.
For greenfield sites yet to be built, do a predictive design using Ekahau or Hamina. Work with the architect to understand the building materials and you’ll get pretty close to what you need. Follow up with on-site testing during the construction phase to validate your predictive design and optimise accordingly.
For brownfield sites undergoing a refresh or similar, nothing beats an on-site survey. Visit the site, identify AP locations, and assess the physical building materials. I like to do this with at least a rough plan of where I expect to place APs so I’m not going in blind. Unless required by the customer you don’t have to survey every AP location. You are trying to build a model by understanding the site and the physical constraints as well as more detailed user requirements. I have been to countless hotels where the floorplan shows soem bedrooms but now it is a meeting room or vice versa. You cannot get that info until you got to site.
Tip #9 Be realistic with your AP placement
I’ve seen so many surveys where the surveyor has placed an AP in an impossible mounting location. A site isn’t going to remove a gigantic chandelier just so you can mount an AP that could have been positioned 2m to the left in the lobby area.
Whether you like it or not, install constraints exist. Think about existing cable routes and decorative features as you’ll need to compromise at times. I’m not saying you should hide APs above ceilings, but work with what’s there. Show that you’ve at least considered how to keep the setup simple while still delivering a top-class network.
Conclusion
There are many more things to look out for when working in hospitality but this should give you a good basis to build on.