Hospitality businesses depend on technology every hour of the day.
Your booking systems need to work. Your payment systems need to stay online. Guests expect reliable Wi-Fi. Managers need access to email and business systems. Staff need working devices. CCTV, telephony, access control and other connected systems may all depend on the same underlying network.
When technology fails in hospitality, it can immediately affect the customer experience and your revenue.
Stratiis provides managed IT support, cybersecurity, connectivity and cloud services for hospitality businesses across Glasgow, Central Scotland and throughout Scotland.
We help hospitality organisations build reliable technology environments that support employees, protect customer information and reduce disruption.
Looking for a more proactive IT partner for your hospitality business?
IT Support Built Around Hospitality
Hospitality IT is different from a typical office environment.
A hotel, restaurant or leisure venue may operate:
- Seven days a week
- Early mornings and late evenings
- Across multiple locations
- With high staff turnover
- With seasonal employees
- With guest Wi-Fi
- With payment terminals
- With cloud booking platforms
- With point-of-sale systems
- With CCTV and access control
- With multiple third-party suppliers
Technology therefore needs to be both reliable and secure.
A problem that might be inconvenient in an office can become a commercial problem in hospitality.
For example:
- No internet could stop card payments.
- A Wi-Fi failure could affect guests and staff.
- A ransomware incident could make booking information unavailable.
- A compromised email account could lead to fraudulent payments.
- A faulty network could affect tills or telephones.
- A Microsoft 365 outage or account problem could stop managers working.
- A cyberattack could damage customer confidence.
The role of your IT provider should be to reduce those risks before they become serious operational problems.
What Technology Challenges Do Hospitality Businesses Face?
1. Keeping Critical Systems Online
Hospitality businesses can depend on several systems operating simultaneously.
These may include:
- Property management systems
- Restaurant reservation platforms
- Electronic point-of-sale systems
- Card-payment terminals
- Hotel booking systems
- Microsoft 365
- Telephony
- CCTV
- Access-control systems
- Guest Wi-Fi
- Staff Wi-Fi
- Accounting applications
- Payroll systems
- Cloud applications
If the underlying internet connection, network or hardware fails, multiple systems can be affected at once.
That means uptime and resilience should be central to your IT strategy.
What Happens if a Hospitality Business Loses Its Internet Connection?
For many hospitality organisations, internet connectivity is now business-critical infrastructure.
An outage could affect:
- Card payments
- Bookings
- Online reservations
- Cloud-based POS systems
- Guest Wi-Fi
- Microsoft Teams
- Cloud telephony
- Supplier systems
- Remote management
- Customer communications
This is why relying on a single broadband connection can be risky.
Stratiis can help hospitality businesses implement connectivity designed around the importance of the location, including:
- Business broadband
- Leased lines
- Internet failover
- 4G or 5G backup connectivity
- SD-WAN
- Multi-site networking
- Managed firewalls
For critical hospitality sites, the question should not simply be:
“How fast is our internet?”
A better question is:
“What happens to our business when it stops working?”
Reliable Wi-Fi for Hotels, Restaurants and Hospitality Venues
Wi-Fi is no longer an optional guest convenience.
Customers increasingly expect to be connected wherever they stay, eat, work or relax.
Hospitality businesses often need several separate networks, including:
- Guest Wi-Fi
- Staff Wi-Fi
- Business systems
- Payment devices
- CCTV
- IoT devices
- Building-management technology
These should not necessarily all share the same unrestricted network.
Stratiis can help design managed Wi-Fi and network infrastructure that provides appropriate separation between business-critical systems and guest devices.
This can improve both performance and security.
Guest Wi-Fi vs Business Wi-Fi
One of the most important considerations for hospitality businesses is separating guest internet access from internal systems.
Guests should not be able to access the same network used by:
- Office computers
- Servers
- Payment systems
- CCTV equipment
- Printers
- Business applications
- Staff devices
Proper network segmentation can help reduce the risk that a problem or compromised device on one part of the network affects another.
A well-designed hospitality network should therefore consider who and what is connecting — not simply provide one Wi-Fi password for everything.
Cybersecurity for Hospitality Businesses
Hospitality organisations can be attractive targets for cybercriminals because they often process:
- Customer personal information
- Payment information
- Booking details
- Employee information
- Supplier information
- Financial records
They may also have large numbers of employees, temporary staff and third-party suppliers accessing systems.
That creates a wide attack surface.
Cybersecurity therefore needs to protect more than individual computers.
It should cover:
- User identities
- Laptops
- Servers
- Microsoft 365
- Mobile devices
- Networks
- Cloud applications
- Backups
- Staff awareness
How Can Stratiis Protect a Hospitality Business?
Our approach is based on multiple layers of security.
Depending on your environment, this can include:
Multi-Factor Authentication
Multi-factor authentication adds another level of protection beyond passwords.
This is particularly important for Microsoft 365, email and cloud applications.
Endpoint Protection
Computers and laptops should be centrally protected, monitored and regularly updated.
Email Security
Hospitality employees can receive large volumes of emails relating to:
- Bookings
- Suppliers
- Invoices
- Recruitment
- Events
- Customer enquiries
That makes phishing and fraudulent emails particularly relevant.
Advanced email security can help identify suspicious messages, malicious links and impersonation attempts before they reach employees.
Security Awareness Training
Technology cannot stop every attack.
Employees need to understand how to identify:
- Phishing
- Fake invoices
- Password attacks
- Fraudulent payment requests
- Suspicious links
- Social engineering
Regular awareness training helps make employees part of your cybersecurity defence.
Microsoft 365 Security
Microsoft 365 should be configured securely rather than simply installed.
This can include:
- MFA
- Conditional Access
- Microsoft Defender
- Device management
- Account monitoring
- Secure sharing
- Data protection
- Administrator controls
Payment Security and PCI DSS
Hospitality businesses frequently accept card payments.
That means payment security needs to be treated separately from general IT security.
Organisations handling card payments may need to meet requirements under the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard — PCI DSS.
Your exact responsibilities will depend on how payments are processed and which providers and systems you use.
A good IT strategy can support PCI compliance by helping you maintain areas such as:
- Secure networks
- Managed firewalls
- Device security
- Access controls
- Patch management
- User management
- Network segmentation
- Logging
- Secure Wi-Fi
However, PCI compliance should always be reviewed alongside your payment provider and relevant compliance adviser.
Protecting Against Email Fraud
Hospitality businesses regularly make payments to:
- Food and drink suppliers
- Contractors
- Utilities
- Maintenance companies
- Booking platforms
- Recruitment providers
- Property suppliers
Cybercriminals understand this.
One common attack involves compromising or impersonating a supplier or senior employee and requesting that payment details are changed.
The email may look completely legitimate.
Businesses should therefore combine technical controls with financial procedures.
For example:
Changes to supplier bank details should always be verified independently using previously known contact information.
Your cybersecurity should support your financial controls rather than replace them.
Microsoft 365 for Hospitality Businesses
Microsoft 365 can provide the foundation for communication and collaboration across hospitality organisations.
Stratiis can help manage and secure:
Microsoft Outlook
Microsoft Teams
SharePoint
OneDrive
Microsoft Intune
Microsoft Defender
Power Automate
Microsoft Copilot
For multi-site hospitality organisations, Microsoft 365 can make it easier for management teams to collaborate regardless of location.
Microsoft Teams for Hospitality Groups
Microsoft Teams can help hotel groups, restaurants and multi-site hospitality organisations improve internal communication.
Rather than relying on fragmented email chains and messaging platforms, Teams can provide structured communication between:
- Head office
- General managers
- Finance
- Operations
- Sales teams
- Marketing
- HR
- Site managers
It can also support:
- Video meetings
- File sharing
- Project collaboration
- Internal announcements
- Departmental communication
SharePoint for Hospitality Businesses
Hospitality businesses generate large amounts of internal documentation.
This might include:
- Staff policies
- Health and safety information
- Training documents
- HR documentation
- Standard operating procedures
- Supplier information
- Menu documents
- Marketing materials
- Site information
- Compliance documents
SharePoint can provide a central structured environment for this information.
Rather than storing documents across laptops, email inboxes and shared folders, businesses can create controlled document libraries with appropriate permissions.
Supporting Hospitality Employees Across Multiple Locations
Hospitality groups often have:
- Several venues
- Regional managers
- Home workers
- Head-office employees
- Mobile managers
- Temporary employees
This can include:
- Microsoft 365
- Laptop deployment
- Remote support
- Microsoft Intune
- Cybersecurity
- Networking
- Wi-Fi
- Connectivity
- Business mobiles
Stratiis can help standardise devices and systems across locations.
Standardisation can make IT easier to manage as the business grows.
Managing Joiners and Leavers
Hospitality can experience higher staff turnover than many other industries.
That makes good joiner and leaver processes extremely important.
When an employee leaves, businesses should consider:
- Disabling their Microsoft 365 account
- Removing access to company applications
- Recovering company devices
- Changing shared passwords
- Removing VPN access
- Removing mobile-device access
- Reviewing mailbox access
- Transferring business information
Leaving active accounts behind can create unnecessary cybersecurity risk.
Stratiis can help automate and standardise these processes.
Business Mobiles for Hospitality Managers
General managers, regional managers and operations teams often rely heavily on mobile devices.
Stratiis can provide:
- Business mobile tariffs
- SIM-only plans
- Device management
- Microsoft Intune
- Mobile security
- Usage management
- Joiner and leaver support
Bringing mobile devices under the same technology strategy as laptops and Microsoft 365 can improve visibility and security.
Backup and Disaster Recovery for Hospitality Businesses
A backup is not simply something IT departments should have.
It is part of your ability to continue trading.
Consider what would happen if your business suddenly lost access to:
- Management systems
- Microsoft 365
- Business documents
- Finance information
- Customer information
- Shared drives
- Servers
How long could your organisation operate?
One hour?
One day?
Several days?
The answer determines how your backup and disaster-recovery environment should be designed.
Backup Is Not the Same as Disaster Recovery
These terms are often used interchangeably, but they are different.
Backup means keeping recoverable copies of your information.
Disaster recovery is the plan for restoring systems and business operations following a serious failure.
A good recovery strategy should answer questions such as:
- What systems need restored first?
- How quickly must they be available?
- Where are backups stored?
- Are backups isolated from ransomware?
- When were they last tested?
- Who makes decisions during an incident?
- How will employees communicate?
The most important time to answer these questions is before an incident happens.
Cybersecurity Checklist for Hospitality Businesses
How does your organisation compare?
Accounts
- Is MFA enabled?
- Are administrator accounts tightly controlled?
- Are unused accounts disabled?
- Are leaver accounts removed quickly?
Devices
- Are computers centrally managed?
- Are security updates applied automatically?
- Is endpoint security installed?
- Are laptops encrypted?
- Do you have advanced email security?
- Are employees trained to identify phishing?
- Are supplier bank-detail changes independently verified?
Wi-Fi and Networks
- Is guest Wi-Fi separated from business systems?
- Are payment devices appropriately protected?
- Are firewalls professionally managed?
- Are IoT devices separated where appropriate?
Backup
- Is critical information backed up?
- Are backups monitored?
- Are backups tested?
- Could your systems be recovered after ransomware?
Response
- Do you have an incident-response plan?
- Does management know who to contact during a cyberattack?
- Do you know which systems are business-critical?
If several answers are no or we don’t know, your hospitality business may benefit from an IT and cybersecurity review.
Connected Devices and IoT in Hospitality
Modern hospitality environments increasingly contain connected technology.
Examples include:
- Smart televisions
- CCTV
- Access control
- Digital signage
- Heating controls
- Smart lighting
- Environmental sensors
- Door-entry systems
- Building-management systems
- Kitchen systems
- IoT devices
Businesses should know:
- What devices are connected
- Which network they use
- Who manages them
- Whether firmware is updated
- Whether default passwords have been changed
- Whether suppliers have remote access
- Whether devices are separated from critical business systems
These devices can improve customer experience and operational efficiency.
But they can also increase cybersecurity complexity.
A smart device should not automatically be considered a secure device.
Can Artificial Intelligence Help Hospitality Businesses?
AI has the potential to improve several areas of hospitality operations.
Possible applications include:
- Producing marketing content
- Summarising reports
- Analysing customer feedback
- Creating training material
- Drafting responses
- Supporting revenue analysis
- Improving internal knowledge sharing
- Automating repetitive administration
- Analysing business information
Employees need clear guidance on:
- Which AI tools are approved
- What customer information can be uploaded
- What commercial information can be shared
- How outputs should be checked
- Who is responsible for AI-generated work
- How company information is protected
Microsoft Copilot may also help employees work more efficiently inside applications such as Outlook, Teams, Word, Excel and PowerPoint.
However, hospitality businesses should address governance before widespread AI adoption.
AI adoption should therefore form part of your wider IT and cybersecurity strategy.
Automating Hospitality Business Processes
Hospitality businesses often perform repetitive administrative tasks that could potentially be automated.
Examples might include:
- New starter workflows
- Holiday approvals
- Purchase approvals
- Expense requests
- Maintenance requests
- Incident reporting
- Supplier approvals
- Contract reminders
- Document approvals
- Management notifications
Microsoft Power Automate can help connect Microsoft 365 applications and automate appropriate processes.
The best candidates are normally tasks that are:
Repetitive, rules-based and time-consuming.
Automation should free employees to spend more time on customers and operations.
IT Support for Multi-Site Hospitality Groups
As hospitality organisations grow, technology can become inconsistent.
One site may have one broadband provider.
Another may have different Wi-Fi.
A third may have locally purchased computers.
Different locations may have different passwords, security products and suppliers.
This can make IT difficult to control.
Stratiis can help hospitality groups standardise:
- Devices
- Microsoft 365
- Cybersecurity
- Networks
- Wi-Fi
- Connectivity
- Backup
- Support
- Mobile devices
- Hardware procurement
That gives management greater visibility across the group.
Opening a New Hotel, Restaurant or Hospitality Venue?
Technology should be considered early in the project.
Leaving IT until immediately before opening can create unnecessary cost and delays.
A technology plan for a new hospitality site might include:
- Broadband
- Backup internet
- Network cabling
- Wi-Fi
- Firewalls
- Computers
- Printers
- Microsoft 365
- Telephones
- Business mobiles
- CCTV connectivity
- Guest Wi-Fi
- POS connectivity
- Payment systems
- Cybersecurity
Stratiis can coordinate the IT infrastructure alongside your other suppliers.
Refurbishing a Hospitality Venue?
A refurbishment can be an ideal opportunity to review the underlying technology infrastructure.
Consider:
- Network cabling
- Wi-Fi coverage
- Internet resilience
- Communications cabinets
- CCTV connectivity
- Access control
- Telephony
- Meeting-room technology
- Digital signage
- IoT devices
Planning these areas early can avoid expensive retrofitting later.
Supporting Hospitality Businesses With an Internal IT Team
Larger hospitality organisations may already employ internal IT personnel.
In that situation, outsourcing all IT may not make sense.
Stratiis can provide Co-Managed IT Services, working alongside your internal team.
We can provide additional capability across:
- Helpdesk
- Cybersecurity
- Microsoft 365
- Infrastructure
- Project delivery
- Cloud
- Backup
- Network support
- Escalations
- Holiday cover
- Strategic IT
Your internal team retains control while gaining access to additional resources and specialist skills.
IT Strategy and Technology Roadmaps
Hospitality businesses can accumulate technology over many years.
Systems are often purchased individually as immediate needs appear.
This can result in:
- Duplicate systems
- Ageing hardware
- Unexpected costs
- Unsupported technology
- Cybersecurity gaps
- Too many suppliers
- Poor integration
A strategic roadmap might cover:
- Hardware replacement
- Microsoft 365
- Cybersecurity
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi
- Cloud services
- AI
- Automation
- Backup
- New locations
- Future investment
Stratiis can help businesses develop a strategic technology roadmap.
The aim is to move from reactive technology spending to planned investment.
What Should a Hospitality Business Look for in an IT Provider?
Choosing an MSP should involve more than comparing monthly prices.
Ask potential providers:
- How quickly do you respond?
- What cybersecurity is included?
- Do you provide proactive monitoring?
- Can you support multiple sites?
- Can you manage Microsoft 365?
- Can you provide connectivity?
- Can you manage Wi-Fi?
- Can you help with backup and disaster recovery?
- Can you support mobile devices?
- Will you help us develop an IT strategy?
- How will you report cybersecurity risks?
- Can you support us during a serious cyber incident?
The cheapest provider is not necessarily the lowest-cost provider if poor IT support causes disruption.
Why Choose Stratiis?
Hospitality businesses need IT that works when their customers need them.
Stratiis takes a security-first, proactive approach to technology.
We help businesses bring together:
- IT support
- Cybersecurity
- Microsoft 365
- Backup
- Connectivity
- Wi-Fi
- Business mobiles
- Cloud
- Telecoms
- IT strategy
Our objective is not simply to fix computers.
It is to help make your technology environment:
Reliable
Reduce disruption and keep employees working.
Secure
Protect employees, systems and business information.
Resilient
Prepare for outages, failures and cyber incidents.
Strategic
Ensure technology supports your future business plans.
Switching IT Providers?
Many hospitality businesses delay changing IT providers because they worry the transition will cause disruption.
A properly managed transition should not.
Stratiis can work with your existing provider to transfer:
- Microsoft 365
- User accounts
- Computers
- Servers
- Networks
- Wi-Fi
- Domains
- Backup systems
- Security products
- Supplier information
- Connectivity details
The objective is to make the process controlled and minimise disruption to your operation.
Frequently Asked Questions About Hospitality IT Support
How much does managed IT support cost for a hospitality business?
The cost depends on factors such as the number of employees, devices, sites, servers, cybersecurity requirements and support services required.
When comparing providers, make sure you understand exactly what is included.
A lower monthly price can sometimes exclude important areas such as cybersecurity, backup or strategic support.
Can Stratiis support hotels and hospitality groups with multiple sites?
Yes.
We can support multi-site organisations and help standardise technology, cybersecurity and connectivity across different locations.
Can you manage guest Wi-Fi?
Yes.
We can help design and manage Wi-Fi infrastructure while separating guest access from internal business systems where appropriate.
Can you support our payment systems and tills?
We can support the underlying IT infrastructure, networks, connectivity and devices associated with payment and POS environments.
Specialist application or payment issues may also require the relevant software or payment provider.
Can you provide backup internet?
Yes.
Depending on the location and business requirements, backup options may include a secondary fixed connection or 4G/5G failover.
Can you manage Microsoft 365?
Yes.
Stratiis can manage Microsoft 365 users, security, Teams, SharePoint, OneDrive and other Microsoft cloud services.
Can you support hospitality businesses outside normal office hours?
Hospitality organisations often operate outside traditional office hours, so support requirements should be discussed as part of your service design.
Critical systems should also be designed with resilience so that the first response to an outage is not always dependent on somebody fixing it manually.
Do hospitality businesses need Cyber Essentials?
Cyber Essentials is not legally mandatory for every hospitality business, but it provides a useful baseline for cybersecurity.
It may also be required by some customers, suppliers, insurers or contracts.
Stratiis can help assess your readiness for Cyber Essentials and Cyber Essentials Plus.
Do hotels need separate guest Wi-Fi?
Guest traffic should generally be appropriately separated from sensitive internal systems.
Exactly how this is implemented depends on your network and technology environment.
Can Stratiis help us open a new hotel or restaurant?
Yes.
We can assist with areas such as connectivity, Wi-Fi, cabling, Microsoft 365, hardware, cybersecurity, telephony and the underlying infrastructure required for your technology suppliers.
Speak to Stratiis About IT Support for Your Hospitality Business
Hospitality businesses cannot afford technology that constantly gets in the way.
Your systems should allow your employees to focus on customers rather than IT problems.
If you’re concerned about:
- Slow IT support
- Cybersecurity
- Wi-Fi
- Internet resilience
- Microsoft 365
- Multiple locations
- Backup
- Outdated technology
- Payment-system connectivity
- Your current IT provider
Stratiis can review your current technology environment and identify where improvements can be made.
We provide IT support, cybersecurity and technology services for businesses across Glasgow, Central Scotland and throughout Scotland.
Ready to review your IT?
