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A pint and a glass of wine on a pub table by an open fire

Fill the quiet nights

Guest Wi-Fi marketing for pubs and restaurants.

Everyone joins the Wi-Fi; almost nobody joins the mailing list. Change that: a quiz-night reminder on Monday, a win-back email after six weeks, a review request the morning after, and replies to every review without the late-night typing.

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The Anchor (demo pub) sign-in page: dark wood and amber, with a “What’s on” quiz night announcement

How do pubs and restaurants use guest Wi-Fi marketing?

Guests sign in to the Wi-Fi on a page in your pub’s style and can opt in to hear from you. WiFinger builds one guest list across your sites and sends what you switch on: review requests, win-back offers for lapsed regulars, event reminders. New Google, Trustpilot and Tripadvisor reviews arrive in one queue with a reply drafted in your voice, and anything sensitive waits for a person.

Tuesday and Wednesday are dead, whatever we post on Facebook.

Email the people who were actually here, with a midweek offer they show at the bar.

We only hear from guests when something went wrong.

A private feedback box on the “you’re online” screen, then a review request to everyone.

Replying to reviews eats our Sunday evening.

Every new review arrives with a drafted reply. Approve it, edit it, or let safe 4★ and 5★ replies post by themselves.

Typical problems venue owners describe to us; not quotes from named customers.

The Anchor (demo pub) sign-in page: dark wood and amber, with a “What’s on” quiz night announcement
Pub template
The Boathouse (demo restaurant) sign-in page on the restaurant template
Restaurant template

What pubs and restaurants do with it

  • Win back lapsed regularsEngage42 days without a visit triggers a friendly email with a single-use offer for a quiet night.
  • Event nights that fill upEngageQuiz night, live music, Sunday roast: send one campaign to opted-in regulars of one site or all of them.
  • Reviews answered in minutesEngageGoogle, Trustpilot and Tripadvisor reviews in one queue with AI reply drafts. Complaints, allergies, illness and named staff always go to a person.
  • One list for the whole groupEvery site under one organisation, with per-site dashboards and a monthly PDF report for the owners.

Sign-in pages shown are demo venues on the sector template. Everything on them can be changed.

The pub playbook

Three journeys for the quiet nights, switched on in a minute.

  1. Review request

    The morning after a first visit, with your Google or Tripadvisor link. Everyone gets the same ask.

  2. Win-back

    42 days without a visit triggers a friendly email and a single-use offer.

  3. Events list

    A segment of opted-in regulars, one campaign, sent in minutes.

Review approval queue: a 2-star Google review with the reasons a person must check it and an AI-drafted reply

A two-site pub group, worked example

Assumes 500 Wi-Fi sign-ins a week per site, 30% email opt-in and 1-2 access points per site. Illustrative only, not a customer result.
~300
new opted-in contacts a week across both sites
1
guest list and campaign for both sites
£218
a month on Engage for two sites (ex VAT)

Guest Wi-Fi set-up and compliance for pubs and restaurants

Typical pub and restaurant Wi-Fi

Pubs and restaurants tend to be older buildings with thick walls, so two to five access points are common: Ubiquiti UniFi or TP-Link Omada in most independents, Cisco Meraki or Aruba Instant in managed chains and pub groups, occasionally a MikroTik hotspot set up by the local IT firm. Meraki, Aruba, Omada and MikroTik connect through the external portal and RADIUS; UniFi and Grandstream GWN by API. A beer garden usually needs one outdoor-rated access point on the same guest network.

Consent and reviews in a pub

A pub’s guest list is built from adults who may have been drinking, so keep the sign-in short and the wording plain. Consent to marketing is separate from the Wi-Fi terms and never required to get online. Reviews need care too: every opted-in guest gets the same review request, because asking only happy guests (review gating) breaks Google’s rules and UK guidance on fake reviews. Withdrawal by the unsubscribe link, or by reply to an SMS, stops any journey in progress.

Setting up guest Wi-Fi marketing in a pub or restaurant

  1. Connect each site

    One organisation, one site per pub. Connect each controller (an API key for UniFi or GWN; portal URL and RADIUS secret for Meraki, Aruba, Omada or MikroTik) and test with your phone at the bar.

  2. Publish the pub template

    Dark wood and amber by default. Add the What’s-on block, your Google and Tripadvisor links, and a private feedback question after Connect.

  3. Turn on review request and win-back

    Then connect Google, Trustpilot and Tripadvisor so each new review arrives with a drafted reply.

What pubs and restaurants use most

  • Pub and restaurant sign-in templates
  • Segments: regulars, lapsed, weekend-only, per site
  • Email and SMS campaigns with the consent check at send time
  • Win-back and review-request journeys
  • AI reply drafts for Google, Trustpilot and Tripadvisor reviews
  • Offers and vouchers, redeemed at the bar
  • Multi-site dashboard, one guest list, multi-site discount from 3 sites
See prices

Questions pubs and restaurants ask

Do we need new Wi-Fi equipment?
No. Grandstream GWN, Ubiquiti UniFi and Aruba Instant connect directly; MikroTik, TP-Link Omada, Cisco Meraki, OpenWrt, pfSense and most business routers with an external captive portal and RADIUS work through the generic connector. Your guest network stays on your hardware.
Can we run one list across several pubs?
Yes. Sites sit under one organisation, so segments and campaigns can target one venue or all of them. A multi-site discount applies from three sites (10%), ten (15%) and twenty-five (20%).
Will SMS cost extra?
SMS uses prepaid credits (one credit per SMS segment) that you top up from Billing, so there is never a surprise bill: sending stops at zero. Enterprise includes 250 credits a month per site; email is included on Engage (5,000 a month).
Do AI replies post without us seeing them?
Only if you allow it, and only for 4★ and 5★ reviews that pass every safety rule, after a delay you set. Low ratings, complaints, refunds, allergies, illness, named staff and low AI confidence always wait for a person. Tripadvisor has no reply API, so its drafts wait ready to paste.
Can we hide negative reviews?
No, and nobody should. Every guest gets the same review link; private feedback reaches you separately so you can put things right. Filtering who is asked by their rating (“review gating”) is against Google’s rules.
Does it work in the beer garden or across two floors?
Yes, wherever an access point on the guest network reaches. Coverage is a hardware question for your installer; sign-in and consent work the same on every access point.
Can each pub in a group have its own sign-in page?
Yes. Each site has its own portal, logo and wording, while the guest list, segments and reports can be per site or across the group.

Try WiFinger at your pub or restaurant this week.

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