Managed WiFi means a provider designs, runs and answers for the hotel's guest network - the login page, the limits, the records, the monitoring and the fixes - so the front desk stops being the WiFi help desk. Here is what the service should include, what it costs and how to compare providers.
Most hotels already have access points. What they lack is someone looking after them: one shared password printed on a card, no limits so a few guests use up the line, no record of who was online, and a router nobody has logged into since the installer left. Self-managed WiFi works until the first complaint, police request or firmware problem.
With a managed service the provider owns those problems. Guests log in with something tied to their stay, each login has its own speed and data limit, every session is recorded, the network is watched remotely, and changes - a new login page, a blocked site, a VIP who needs more speed - are a message away instead of a site visit.
Room number and surname checked against the PMS, printed QR or PIN vouchers, or an SMS one-time password - with access ending at checkout.
Speed, data and device limits per room or plan, so one guest streaming cannot slow down the floor.
Who was online, on which device, when and how much - kept in India for the 180-day period. See WiFi log retention.
Router up/down alerts, internet failover events, LAN loop warnings and nightly configuration backups - see MikroTik remote management.
Your name, logo and colours on the captive portal, a status page with a log-out button, and optional review and social buttons after login.
Staff log in with their own mobile number on a long-validity plan, and office PCs and POS can sit on their own network, apart from guests.
The guest network kept apart from hotel systems, router management ports closed to the internet, and website blocking where policy needs it.
A backup line with automatic failover, so a fibre cut does not mean a lobby full of complaints.
Split every quote into the same parts: the internet line (from your ISP), the gateway and managed platform, access points, cabling and switches, and the yearly service. The line and the hardware vary with the building; the managed part should be a clear, published figure.
Published plans in India: Lite ₹30,000 (30-40 rooms), Medium ₹50,000 (40-60 rooms) and Standard ₹99,000 (large and five-star hotels), one-time, each with ₹15,000 yearly maintenance. Outside India every project is quoted on its own.
Lite or Medium plan. Often the existing access points can stay and a managed gateway goes in front of them; new access points only where coverage is weak.
Usually the Standard plan. Hardware is the variable: corridors, floors and wall material decide the number of access points, and a survey fixes it before any money is spent.
Standard plan, with a second internet line and failover, separate networks for guests, staff, POS and banquets, outdoor coverage for pools and lawns, and PMS login. Plan the line for guests online at peak, not for the number of rooms.
More detail on each cost line: how much hotel WiFi costs and hotel WiFi network design.
Ask for the yearly cost at your room count and at double it. A fee that grows with rooms or users makes the cheapest quote the dearest in three years.
Standard MikroTik, TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti UniFi can be replaced from any distributor. A proprietary gateway can only be replaced by its vendor, at their price.
Get your PMS named in writing - for example HotelLine, WinCloud, Hotelogix, IDS Next, protel or WinHMS - and ask what happens at checkout.
In India, plan for 180 days of per-guest records stored in India. Ask how the front desk gets them when the police ask.
Monitoring, login-page changes, firmware updates, remote fixes, site visits. Ask what is extra - this is where cheap quotes recover their margin.
Is there failover to a second line, and does the login page still load from the router when the cloud is unreachable?
Can you take your router, users and configuration with you if you change provider? A good provider is kept by service, not by lock-in.
For a side-by-side of software vendors, see the hotel WiFi software buyer's guide.
We start by reading what is already there - the router, access points, users and vouchers - and keep what works. Existing routers are adopted rather than replaced where they are fit for it, and existing guest logins are imported so nobody starts again. The change-over is planned for a quiet time of day, and guests notice only a new login page.
iberry engineers survey and install across India from Mohali; outside India the network is set up and run remotely with a local technician for the physical work. Talk to us on WhatsApp +91 98550 21117.
A service in which a provider designs, runs and supports the hotel's guest WiFi: the guest login page, per-guest limits, session records, monitoring, security and changes. The hotel gets a working network and one number to call, instead of owning the configuration and the problems itself.
With iberry in India, a hotel of that size is on the Standard plan: ₹99,000 one-time plus ₹15,000 a year for maintenance. Access points, switches and cabling are extra and depend on the building, so they are quoted after a site survey. The internet line is bought separately from your ISP.
Break every quote into the same parts - internet line, gateway and platform, access points, cabling, yearly service - and ask each provider about per-room or per-user licences, proprietary hardware, which PMS they support, where logs are stored and for how long, and exactly what yearly maintenance covers.
Often, yes. Existing MikroTik routers and TP-Link Omada or Ubiquiti UniFi access points can usually be adopted. We survey first, keep what works and replace only what cannot do the job.
Yes. The platform runs in the cloud and the routers connect to it over an encrypted tunnel, so properties in any country can be set up and managed remotely, with a local technician for the hardware. Projects outside India are quoted individually.
On a managed service, the provider. Front-desk staff can see each guest's session and limits on the dashboard and fix most issues themselves; anything else comes to iberry support on WhatsApp.
Tell us the number of rooms, floors and any outdoor areas, your PMS and your internet line. Published plans in India: Lite ₹30,000 (30-40 rooms), Medium ₹50,000 (40-60 rooms) and Standard ₹99,000 (large and five-star hotels), one-time, each with ₹15,000 yearly maintenance. Outside India every project is quoted on its own.
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