The free Wi-Fi service, in addition to benefiting guests, could increase by up to 8.2% the positive rating of establishments on social networks, as revealed by un reciente estudio carried out by the University of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (ULPGC), Spain.
One of the researchers of the project, Professor Jacques Bulchand, from the Department of Economics and Business Management of the ULPGC, told the press that the study considered 10,000 hotels of the 200 best valued tourist destinations on the TripAdvisor portal that had at least 30 user comments.
One of the main conclusions is that wi-Fi benefits both the hotel and its client. "Wi-Fi should not be seen as an extra cost but as an infinitely productive investment," said Professor Bulchand, who also pointed out that the best valuation in social networks can make a hotel begin to be considered within the ten most important destination to which it belongs.
According to the study, the highest category establishments (with the highest number of stars) are the ones that most frequently offer free Wi-Fi. Thus, only 18% of three-star hotels offer this service for free, while in four-star hotels the percentage reaches 21% and in five-star hotels it is estimated at 28%.
As explained by Professor Bulchant, one of the reasons why hotels do not offer Wi-Fi in the menu of services is that this type of technology, in some countries, can be expensive; however, he said that in practical terms "not having it is much more expensive."
