Hotel Wi-Fi Connection and Authentication Fix

Introduction

When I travel, I sometimes encounter issues connecting and authenticating to hotel Wi-Fi networks. In this blog post, I would like to share some quick solutions I have found that might fix these issues.

Hotel Wi-Fi Connection and Authentication Fix

When I check into a hotel, I will usually be given a card with the Wi-Fi network name and password (to use in a web page in browser). Usually, for the first time, I can connect to the Wi-Fi network and authenticate successfully. Later, when I go outside and come back, I will usually find that my device could not be connected to the hotel Wi-Fi network, or it could connect and appear to be authenticated, but I could not access the Internet. I found the following tricks that are sometimes helpful in fixing these issues.

Forget This Network

The first thing I will try is to forget the hotel Wi-Fi network on my device and then reconnect to it. It works most of the time for my Apple devices, such as iPhone and iPad.

Delete Browser Data

I use a Laptop with Ubuntu a lot. Sometimes, the “Forget This Network” trick does not work for the laptop. In this case, because the authentication is performed via a web browser, I will try to delete the browser data, such as cookies and cache, and then reconnect to the hotel Wi-Fi network. This trick occasionally works.

The Last Resort

If the above tricks do not work, because I will often see the contact information of the IT assistance for internet connection in hotel room or authentication web page, I will contact the hotel representatives, which is usually 24/7 available, via telephone.