How do you make a Wi-Fi tag for a holiday rental?
With a card rather than a sticker, on the guest network, and with everything printed on the same card. Guests arrive tired, often with no mobile signal, on a phone you cannot predict, and the tag is the convenience rather than the mechanism.
Assume the worst arrival
Late, tired, with luggage, in an unfamiliar room, possibly with no mobile signal because they are somewhere rural.
That person will not investigate an unlabelled sticker, will not download anything, and will give up quickly.
So the design has to work in one glance and one gesture, with a printed fallback that needs neither.
Everything else about this guide follows from that arrival.
A card, not a sticker
A card can be picked up, brought to the phone and taken to the sofa. A sticker on a wall requires the guest to bring the phone to it.
It carries the printed network name and password on the same object, which is what most guests will use.
It leaves no residue on furniture, which matters in a property you do not want marked.
And it can be replaced in seconds when the password changes, rather than peeled off a wall.
Use the guest network
Share a network that reaches the internet and nothing else. Guests do not need to see the television, the printer or your storage.
It also means a password on a card in a room strangers occupy is a password to something worth little.
Change it between seasons rather than between guests, which is a reasonable compromise between security and the physical cost of rewriting.
And use a password not used anywhere else, since it will be photographed.
Making it last a season
Print clearly and at a size someone can read without their glasses. This is the single most useful thing on the card.
Say what the tag does and that it works on Android phones, so an iPhone guest reads the printed details rather than concluding it is broken.
Laminate or use a durable card, since it will be handled by everyone who stays.
And keep a spare in the property. A card that goes missing between guests leaves the next arrival with nothing at all.
Frequently asked questions
Should the tag be stuck to the wall?
A card is usually better. It can be brought to the phone, carries the printed details, and leaves no mark on furniture.
Will it work for every guest?
The tag will not, since a Wi-Fi record is not acted on the same way by an iPhone. The printed details on the same card serve everyone.
How often should I change the password?
Between seasons is a reasonable compromise, since changing it means physically rewriting the tag.
What if a guest has no signal?
That is common in rural properties and it is why the credentials belong on the card rather than behind a link.