The three measurements that matter
Connections tell you volume: how many guest sessions started in a period, broken down by day and by hour, which is the closest thing to a footfall curve most independent venues will ever have. Dwell time tells you duration: how long devices stayed connected, which separates a venue people sit in from a venue people pass through. VoqadoWiFi does not report dwell time today; the client list in your Omada or UniFi controller shows how long each device has been connected. Repeat rate tells you loyalty: what share of sessions came from an identity you had seen before. Volume, duration and return are the whole picture, and every other chart is a slice of one of them.
How to read the hourly curve without fooling yourself
The hourly connection curve is easy to misread. It shows when people connected, which is not the same as when people arrived, because some guests connect on the way in and some connect twenty minutes later when they run out of conversation. It also undercounts short visits almost entirely. The correct use is comparative rather than absolute: this Tuesday against last Tuesday, this month against the same month last year, the hour before a promotion against the hour after. Compare like with like and the noise cancels. Read a single day in isolation and you will invent a story.
What guest WiFi analytics cannot see
Being explicit about the blind spots is what makes the visible parts trustworthy.
- Guests who never connect. Anyone with unlimited mobile data, a short visit, or no interest in your network is invisible.
- Spend. The portal sees sessions, not transactions, so revenue attribution needs point of sale data joined in separately.
- Group size. One connection can represent a table of six or a single person with two devices.
- Passers-by, unless you deliberately measure them, and even then randomised hardware addresses make presence detection unreliable by design.
- Anything about a guest beyond what they told you at the login and what their session recorded.
Turning the numbers into a decision
Analytics only earn their keep when they change something. The pattern that works is to pick one question a month and answer it properly. Is the new opening hour worth staffing? Compare connections in that hour across four weeks before and after. Did the menu change bring people back? Compare the returning share either side of the change, in the same day part. Is the loyalty sequence working? Compare the returning share of sessions, month over month. One question, one comparison, one decision. A dashboard watched daily and never acted on is the failure to avoid.
Privacy, which is a design constraint rather than a footnote
This data describes real people in a real place, so the collection has to be proportionate and the storage defensible. Collect what you will use, tell guests plainly what is recorded, keep records for a defined period rather than forever (our privacy policy sets out how long VoqadoWiFi keeps guest connection records), and keep analytics aggregated where individual detail is not needed. VoqadoWiFi stores consent alongside guest records so the marketing basis and the analytics basis stay separate and auditable. A guest who declines marketing still generates a session your footfall curve can count, and should not thereby end up on a mailing list.
How to set it up
In order. Skipping a step here is usually why a portal ends up showing a spinner instead of a login screen.
- 1
Get a full month of clean data before you conclude anything
Weekly seasonality is strong in hospitality and retail. A reading taken across fewer than four of each weekday is mostly noise.
- 2
Know how a visit is counted
VoqadoWiFi counts one visit per guest per venue per day, from the login. A coffee shop and a hotel lobby mean different things by a visit, so write down what a login means at yours before you compare periods, and hold that steady.
- 3
Separate staff and payment devices onto their own SSID
Staff phones on the guest network create phantom regulars. Keep them off it entirely.
- 4
Write down the question before you open the dashboard
Decide what you are trying to learn and what result would change your mind. Numbers looked at without a question in hand always confirm whatever you already believed.
- 5
Export and keep a monthly snapshot
Live reports only go back as far as the records kept, which our privacy policy sets out. A monthly CSV export gives you a record you control for year over year comparisons.
Who this suits
The venue types where this job comes up most often, and where the data the portal produces is dense enough to act on.
Run this on your own network first
The Starter plan is free forever: one location, 500 logins a month, a branded splash page and consent logging. Growth is $49 a month and covers up to three locations. Works with TP-Link Omada and Ubiquiti UniFi.
Common questions
Does this count people who do not connect to the WiFi?
No. Everything described here is derived from actual portal sessions, so guests who never connect are not in the data. That is a coverage limit rather than a flaw, and it is why the numbers should be read as trends over time rather than as a headcount.
Is MAC address randomisation a problem for these reports?
It breaks device-level tracking, which is why identity in VoqadoWiFi hangs off the portal login rather than the hardware address. Connection counts are unaffected. Repeat visit reporting depends on the guest logging in with the same email each time.
Can I compare two of my locations?
Yes, if both run portals under the same account. The Growth plan covers three locations. When comparing, hold the reporting period identical across sites and check both guest networks cover the same kind of space, otherwise you are comparing definitions rather than venues.
How long is session data kept?
For as long as the records are kept, which our privacy policy sets out. That period is both a privacy commitment to your guests and the limit on how far back you can compare, so export a monthly snapshot if you want history that outlives it.
Read next
These jobs share the same plumbing, so operators normally set them up in sequence rather than one at a time.
Measure How Many Customers Actually Come Back
Replace a gut feeling about regulars with a number you can compare month to month.
Run a Loyalty Programme Through Your WiFi
Recognise and reward guests who come back, without asking anyone to install an app or carry a stamp card.
Collect Emails From Your Guest WiFi
Turn the WiFi login that already happens hundreds of times a month into a consented, deliverable email address you own.
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