Dwell Time

Dwell time is how long a visitor stays at a location during a single visit. In WiFi analytics it is measured as the interval between a device first and last being seen on the network: connect at 12:41, last activity at 13:52, dwell time 71 minutes. Aggregated across guests, it becomes one of the most practical numbers in footfall analytics.

How it is measured

The access point records when each connected device joins and when it disappears. Two details affect accuracy: an idle timeout decides how long a silent device is still counted as present, and phones that sleep or briefly drop WiFi can fragment one real visit into two short sessions. Sign-in based measurement (via the captive portal) handles this better than passive scanning, because sessions belong to a known guest and can be stitched back together.

Why hospitality venues track it

• Spend correlation - in food and drink venues, longer dwell generally means more rounds and courses ordered, so rising average dwell is usually good news.
• Daypart comparison - a 25-minute average at lunch vs 95 minutes in the evening tells you the lunch trade is grab-and-go and should be served (and marketed to) accordingly.
• Change measurement - refits, new menus, live music and events show up as dwell shifts within weeks.
• Exceptions matter too - a cafe full of four-hour laptop dwellers at peak time may be losing table turns, which is a business decision the data surfaces.

Limitations

Dwell time is a proxy, not a truth: it measures the device's presence, not attention or spend, and it only covers guests who connect. It is most useful tracked as a trend against itself and paired with till data, rather than read as a precise per-guest stopwatch.