When guests complain about the WiFi, the cause is almost always one of a handful of things. Work through this list from the top - it goes from the most common and quickest to check, to the less common. (If you are a guest whose login page will not open, see WiFi login page not opening.)
If every guest has the problem at the same time, start at the internet line. Check the ISP modem or ONT lights, then plug a laptop into the gateway's LAN and open a website. If that fails too, the line is down - call the ISP. A second internet line with automatic failover stops this from taking the whole hotel offline (load balancing and failover).
The phone joins the WiFi but nothing loads. The usual causes:
On a hotel network the internet only opens after the login page. If the page did not pop up, the device shows "connected, no internet" - see step 3.
If the DHCP pool is small and leases are long, new guests get no address once the pool is full. Enlarge the pool or shorten the lease time.
If the gateway's DNS server or upstream DNS fails, every name lookup fails. Point the gateway at reliable DNS servers.
If the login allowed a fixed time or data amount, the internet stops when it runs out - check the guest's account on the login system.
Phones detect a hotel login page by trying to open a known web address over plain HTTP. If that check never reaches the gateway, no popup appears. Common causes on the hotel side: a guest using private / secure DNS (Android Private DNS, iCloud Private Relay, DNS over HTTPS in the browser), a wrong or unreachable hotspot DNS name on the gateway, or a "walled garden" entry that lets everything through. Tell guests to open any http:// website (for example http://neverssl.com) to bring the page up, and check the gateway settings.
If complaints come from the same rooms every time, it is coverage: the nearest access point is too far away, behind a bathroom or a concrete wall, or shared by too many rooms. An access point that has lost power or its cable also leaves a dead area. See how to set up hotel WiFi for placement.
When the hotel is full, a few guests streaming or downloading can use the whole internet line. Per-guest speed limits share the line fairly; if the line is simply too small for the number of rooms, upgrade it or add a second line.
Sudden total outages that clear on their own often mean a network loop - a cable plugged into two ports of the same switch, or two switches cabled together twice. The loop floods the network until the cable is pulled. A managed gateway can log the loop and alert you; iberry flags these within minutes.
Most often the guest has not logged in on the hotel's login page yet. Other causes are the internet line being down, the address pool being full, or DNS not answering.
The phone's check to detect the login page did not reach the gateway - often because of private/secure DNS on the phone or a gateway setting. Opening any http:// website usually brings the page up.
More guests share the same internet line. Per-guest speed limits keep it fair; if it is still slow, the line is too small for a full hotel.
Plan coverage room by room, give each guest a fair speed limit, add a second internet line with failover, and have the network monitored so problems are seen before guests report them. That is what iberry's managed service does.
Tell us what guests report and since when - we can check most gateways remotely. Published plans in India start at ₹30,000 one-time plus a ₹15,000 yearly subscription from the 2nd year (1st year included; ₹20,000 with DNS security and/or PMS integration); outside India every project is quoted on its own.
Get help with your hotel WiFi