Why is Minimal Internet Usage Important for Guest Digital Compendiums?

When it comes to doing anything online from watching videos, to streaming music, to viewing webpages like this, there are always two main factors that determine how quickly it downloads to your device.

Download Speed

This is largely dependent on the type of internet connection you have which is any one of:

• Wi-Fi,
• Ethernet (cable), or
• Cellular/Mobile Data.

Wi-Fi connections in most cases have a slower speed than a cable-based connection, due to factors such as:

• Number of Devices in Close Proximity of Each Other,
• Distance Between Wi-Fi Router and Device Used and
• Number of Walls between the router and each device.

4G cellular connections available through networks like AT&T, Verizon, T-Mobile, Telstra, Optus, Vodafone etc. has a much faster connection, unless you are in very crowded environments, such as a football stadium. These scenarios will not be an issue after 5G internet gets mass adoption, which every major phone network in the world has already begun rolling out.

Your internet speed is defined as megabits per second or Mbps for short. The higher this number is, the faster the internet is. To put it simply, a 50Mbps connection is 2 times faster than a 25Mbps.

Real-world speeds are dependent on having no obstructions or heavy traffic in your area. For Wi-Fi real world speeds, it also depends on your internet service provider's (ISP) speed that you are paying for.

Download Size

The size of what you are downloading is largely dependent on the type of files you are downloading and how detailed they are.

For example, the download size of a 2-megapixel image is nothing compared to a 1080p video, as the image is a still shot, whereas videos have anywhere from 24 to 60 frames per second (FPS), which acts as images per second.

For our Hinfo Digital Hotel Compendium, we have some control on the amount of download that is required from your guests end.

We are always striving to make our service more efficient, which makes everything download faster on your guests own devices, regardless of the type of internet connection they are using.

Since launch, we have been aiming to reduce the download required by guests for the following scenarios, without compromising the guest experience:

• The app download from the Apple App Store and Google Play,
• The app updates from the Apple App Store and Google Play,
• Download required for text and images etc. after guests select your property and
• Download required after entering your property on our Hinfo service.

App Downloads Comparison

Apple does not list the download size on the App Store, but rather the amount of storage it takes up on people's devices.

Newer models of iPhone will have smaller app downloads, due to only the latest versions of iOS being supported on that device.

For the majority of Android devices out there, there is very little difference in download between each type of device.

Any app updates provided on Apple devices have to be downloaded in full (at the time of writing), but Android only downloads the changes made, since the version you have currently installed.

We encourage properties to recommend their guests to keep the Hinfo app on their devices, since it takes up so little space. This will allow guests to be ready for the next property they stay at, to only need to look up the property they are staying at, without needing to go through the extra steps re-downloading the app.

This process is done the same way as some for example, keeping the Uber app on their smartphone for when they next need a ride.

For guests using the app, after downloading Hinfo, our app typically requires anywhere between 1-25MB to download your property's details offline. During any guests stay, depending on the duration, the data they could use depending on the amount of data for viewing webpages and videos in the app.

App Download Times

As explained at the top of the blog post, one of the big factors of how long it takes to download content from the internet, is how fast the download speed is.

When you combine the download speed and download size together, it will help you get a more thorough idea as to how long it would take to download.

The Digital and Contactless Step

We recognize that the difference between our solution and others on the market, is that there is an additional step on the guest's part, before accessing the details.

This step is necessary, when providing a fully contactless hotel compendium to your guests and you would want this process, to be as quick as possible.

The longest components of this process relate to the time to download our app or visit Hinfo.com and then the time to download the property details.

By minimizing the amount of download required for each of these steps, will make this process faster for all guests, regardless of the internet speeds available to them at the premises.

To see how fast the internet speed is for you, in your area, via any type of internet connection, we recommend using the Speedtest website or the Speediest app.

In this increasingly digital world, every piece of software, document and multimedia file should always be striving to be as efficient as possible. This will make the internet faster for everyone, regardless of the type of connection they have, while also reducing the amount of traffic on the network leading to a more reliable network.

We are doing our part with the Hinfo service, so you can have the peace of mind that the extra step on the guest's part, to receive all of the benefits of our service, is as minimal as possible.