Failsafe Internet for Gastronomy & Hospitality: Securing Card Payments, Guest WiFi, and Booking Systems

Summary (TL;DR)

Gastronomy and hospitality are now completely dependent on the internet: card payments, guest WiFi, booking systems, POS systems, and smart hotel features only work online. An outage means revenue loss, upset guests, and reputation damage. Internet Bonding combines multiple lines (DSL, LTE, fiber) into a failsafe connection with up to 99.9% uptime. For restaurants, the investment often pays off after the first prevented outage.

Why Gastronomy and Hotels Depend on the Internet

The days when a restaurant or hotel could function without internet are over. Digitalization has touched every area - from ordering to billing, from check-in to room controls.

Critical Systems in Gastronomy

Card Payments: Debit and credit card terminals need a stable connection
POS Systems: Cloud-based systems like orderbird, ready2order, or Lightspeed
Delivery Integration: Mjam, Lieferando, Wolt - orders come online
Reservation Systems: Quandoo, TheFork, OpenTable
Inventory Management: Automatic orders to suppliers
Guest WiFi: Guest expectation, often needed for QR code menus too

Critical Systems in Hospitality

Property Management System (PMS): Check-in, check-out, room management
Channel Manager: Booking.com, Expedia, HRS synchronization
Guest WiFi: A must today - bad reviews for outages guaranteed
Smart Room Controls: Heating, lighting, TV via network
Card Payments: At reception and in hotel bar/restaurant
Telephony: VoIP systems need internet
Streaming Services: Netflix, Prime Video in rooms

The True Cost of an Internet Outage

An internet outage in gastronomy or hospitality is not just annoying - it costs real money and damages reputation. Costs can be divided into direct and indirect losses.

Direct Costs: Lost Revenue

When card payments don't work, many guests don't pay - they simply don't have cash. Studies show: 70-80% of all payments in upscale gastronomy are cashless. An outage during peak hours can cost hundreds to thousands of euros.

Business Type	Average Hourly Revenue	Cashless Share	Loss per Hour of Outage
Cafe/Bistro	200-400 EUR	60-70%	120-280 EUR
Restaurant	500-1,500 EUR	70-80%	350-1,200 EUR
Hotel (50 rooms)	1,000-3,000 EUR	90%+	900-2,700 EUR
Nightclub/Bar	1,000-5,000 EUR	80-90%	800-4,500 EUR

Indirect Costs: Reputation and Guest Satisfaction

Negative Online Reviews: "WiFi didn't work" is a frequent complaint
Cancelled Bookings: When the booking system is offline, guests book elsewhere
Lost Regulars: Those who have a bad experience rarely return
Staff Stress: Manual workarounds cost time and nerves
Delivery Rankings: Mjam & Co. penalize businesses that are often offline

Typical Causes of Outages in Gastronomy and Hospitality

Infrastructure Problems

Many gastronomy businesses and hotels are located in city centers with old infrastructure. DSL lines are often overloaded, fiber isn't available everywhere. Add construction work that cuts cables - especially common in tourist areas with lots of building activity.

Overload During Peak Hours

Every hotelier knows the problem: During breakfast, 50 guests want to check their emails simultaneously while check-outs run at reception. Without sufficient bandwidth and intelligent prioritization (QoS), everything stalls.

Outdated Hardware

Routers and access points older than 5 years become bottlenecks. They don't support modern standards (WiFi 6), have limited simultaneous connections, and no failover function.

Solutions for Failsafe Internet

Option 1: LTE/5G as Backup

The simplest solution: A second internet access via mobile that kicks in when the main line fails. Many business routers support automatic failover.

Advantages: Affordable (from 30-50 EUR/month), quick to set up
Disadvantages: Switchover time of 5-30 seconds, ongoing transactions may drop
Suitable for: Small businesses with low risk

Option 2: Two Fixed Lines with Load Balancing

Two DSL or fiber lines from different providers, used simultaneously. If one fails, the other takes over.

Advantages: Higher base bandwidth, short failover time
Disadvantages: Individual applications use only one line
Suitable for: Medium-sized businesses with higher bandwidth needs

Option 3: Internet Bonding - The Premium Solution

True bonding bundles multiple lines at the packet level. Bandwidths actually add up, and failover happens in milliseconds - without interrupting ongoing connections.

Advantages: Maximum reliability (99.9%+), bundled bandwidth, QoS for critical applications
Disadvantages: Higher costs, aggregator service needed
Suitable for: Hotels, upscale gastronomy, businesses with high outage risk

Practical Example: Restaurant with 80 Seats

An Austrian restaurant in a city center location had repeated problems: DSL outages during peak hours, card payments not working, guests having to pay cash or leaving frustrated. The solution:

Keep existing 50 Mbit/s VDSL line
Add LTE business plan with 100 GB volume
Bonding router with automatic failover
QoS prioritization: Card payment > POS > Guest WiFi

Result: Not a single outage in 8 months. The additional monthly costs of about 80 EUR paid for themselves after the first prevented peak-hour outage.

Practical Example: City Hotel with 45 Rooms

A hotel in an Austrian provincial capital struggled with two problems: unreliable internet and constant complaints about slow guest WiFi. The requirements:

Stable connection for PMS and channel manager (business-critical)
Sufficient bandwidth for 45 rooms with streaming usage
Separate prioritization: Reception before guest WiFi

Solution: Internet Bonding with three lines (Fiber 100 Mbit/s + VDSL 50 Mbit/s + LTE 5G). Total bandwidth: up to 250 Mbit/s, reliability 99.95%. The PMS runs over a dedicated connection with highest priority.

Costs and ROI for Gastronomy Businesses

Investment for a Restaurant

Bonding-capable router: 300-600 EUR (one-time)
LTE backup plan: 30-50 EUR/month
Bonding service (optional): 50-100 EUR/month
Total costs: approx. 80-150 EUR/month + one-time costs

Investment for a Hotel

Professional bonding router: 500-1,000 EUR (one-time)
Managed bonding service: 100-200 EUR/month
Additional lines: existing costs + possibly 50-100 EUR for backup
Total costs: approx. 150-300 EUR/month + one-time costs

When Does the Investment Pay Off?

The calculation is simple: One prevented peak-hour outage often saves more than the solution costs all year. For a restaurant with 1,000 EUR hourly revenue and 80% cashless share, one hour of outage costs 800 EUR. That's 5-10 months of bonding service.

Special Requirements in Austria

Cash Register Requirement and RKSV

In Austria, cash registers must be connected to the tax authority (RKSV). An internet outage can mean receipts cannot be signed. While there's an offline tolerance, longer outages must be reported and can lead to audits.

Seasonal Businesses and Temporary Locations

Mountain huts, alpine pastures, festival tents, pop-up restaurants - many gastronomy businesses are seasonal or temporary. Here, mobile is often the only option. Bonding multiple LTE connections (e.g., A1 + Magenta + Drei) creates redundancy even without fixed lines.

Tourism Hotspots with Overloaded Infrastructure

In popular tourism regions like Salzburg, Innsbruck, or the Salzkammergut, infrastructure is often at its limit during peak season. Internet Bonding with different technologies (fiber + LTE + possibly Starlink) ensures stability even during local overloads.

Checklist: Failsafe Internet for Your Business

Analyze current situation: How many outages occurred in the last year?
Identify critical systems: What absolutely must be online?
Check available lines: Which providers and technologies exist at your location?
Calculate bandwidth needs: How many guests/devices simultaneously?
Set budget: What is an outage worth vs. cost of the solution?
Choose solution: Simple backup, load balancing, or true bonding?
Set up professionally: QoS prioritization for critical applications
Set up monitoring: Detect outages before guests notice

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I keep my existing internet line?

Yes, that's the great advantage of bonding. You keep your existing contracts and simply put a bonding router in front. No provider changes needed, no downtime during the transition.

Does bonding also work with mobile?

Yes, modern bonding solutions can combine any lines - DSL, fiber, LTE, 5G, or even Starlink. Especially for seasonal businesses without fixed-line connection, pure LTE bonding is a good option.

What happens to ongoing card payments during an outage?

With true bonding: nothing. Failover happens in milliseconds, ongoing transactions are not interrupted. With simple failover, there may be a brief drop, and the payment must be repeated.

How fast is the setup?

A simple LTE backup can be set up in 1-2 hours. Professional bonding with QoS configuration takes half a day to a full day. Installation happens without business interruption.

Do I need new guest WiFi equipment?

Not necessarily. The bonding router only replaces your internet access router. Existing access points and WiFi infrastructure remain. However, this is often a good time to upgrade to WiFi 6.

What about data protection?

Reputable bonding providers operate their aggregators in certified data centers in Austria or Germany. The connection is encrypted. For guest WiFi, the usual GDPR requirements apply.

Conclusion: Reliability as Competitive Advantage

In modern gastronomy and hospitality, a stable internet connection is not a luxury but a basic requirement for operations. Card payments, booking systems, guest WiFi - everything depends on it.

The good news: Failsafe internet is affordable today. Even a simple LTE backup significantly reduces the risk. For businesses that cannot tolerate any outages - upscale gastronomy, hotels, nightclubs - true Internet Bonding is the solution of choice.

The question is not whether the investment is worthwhile. The question is: Can you afford the next peak-hour outage?

Practical Example: Internet Bonding at Events

How Internet Bonding also works for temporary events is shown in our <a href="/en/blog/case-study-sport-austria-finals-2025" style="color: #0061A7; text-decoration: underline;">Case Study on the Sport Austria Finals 2025</a>. With 3x 5G Bonding (A1, Magenta, Drei), 320 Mbit/s upload for multi-platform livestreaming was achieved - 3 days, 800 GB data transfer, 0 outages. This technology is also suitable for festival tents, pop-up restaurants, and seasonal gastro locations.