Despite people being on holiday, more and more guest will require wifi internet access to keep in touch with work, news, personal emails or to surf the net.
Properties that provide wifi access can sometimes seal the deal over those without.
You can charge your guests a small flat fee for internet use to cover your costs or include it ‘Free’ in your overall rental rate.
As well as guests needing to keep in contact with work or personal email, smart phone/tablet users now want to keep up to date with social networking sites like Facebook and uploading photos of their holiday to family and friends.* Think of it as free advertising for your holiday rental property!
The traditional postcard is slowly dying. Instant electronic ‘wish you were here’ messaging is now the norm. Think of your guests ‘checking in’ to your property on Facebook for all of their friends to see. Or sharing photos of your lovely pool or view on instagram or Twitter. There is a lot of free advertising potential here!
Most areas will have several wifi providers to choose from within 10-20 miles or in the nearest town. But beware of speed and cost differences between countries and don’t expect the same as you may have at home. For example in Spain a max speed of 1.5MB down and 0.15MB up mean my guests can usually only do simple surfing/emailing/audio Skype. The cost is over twice the amount I pay in the UK.
España Breaks identified that while satellite tv and games consoles increase interest, 19% of guests across their Spanish portfolio in January 2012 enquired for properties that offered wifi.
*According to a 2012 PhocusWright report, 31% of US travellers (who are active on social networking sites) posted comments/photos while away on holiday/vacation. Assuming you have a Facebook business page, can you encourage them to ‘Check In’?