A WiFi hotspot is a physical location where people can access the internet over WiFi, provided through one or more access points, with access controlled by a captive portal, password, voucher, or paid plan.
A WiFi hotspot is a physical place where people can get onto the internet over WiFi - a cafe, pub, hotel lobby, airport terminal, campsite or town square - served by one or more access points that the location's operator runs for visitors.
The terms overlap heavily. "Hotspot" describes the place and the service from the user's point of view; "guest WiFi" describes the operator's setup - a segregated, internet-only network for visitors, separate from staff systems. A pub's guest WiFi is a hotspot; the hotel trade tends to say hotspot, the networking trade tends to say guest network.
Confusingly, "personal hotspot" or "mobile hotspot" means a phone sharing its mobile data connection over WiFi with other devices (tethering). It has nothing to do with venue hotspots beyond the name.
For a venue, the hotspot is a marketing asset as much as an amenity: every connection can capture a consented contact and a visit record. That is the premise of WiFi marketing.
Guest WiFi is a public, internet-only WiFi network a business offers to customers, separate from its private back-office network, typically secured by a captive portal that requires sign-in.
An access point (AP) is a networking device that broadcasts one or more WiFi networks and bridges wireless devices onto a wired network, typically ceiling-mounted and powered over Ethernet in business deployments.
Paid WiFi is a guest WiFi model in which users buy internet access - by time block, data allowance, or speed tier - through a checkout on the captive portal, common in hotels, holiday parks, marinas, and events.
Passpoint, also known as Hotspot 2.0, is a Wi-Fi Alliance certification based on IEEE 802.11u that lets devices discover, securely authenticate to, and roam between participating WiFi networks automatically, with no captive portal or manual sign-in.
WiFi vouchers are single-use or time-limited access codes that a venue hands out - printed on receipts, room cards, or at the counter - which guests redeem on a captive portal to get online.
Capture guest emails, run automated email/SMS campaigns, and grow Google reviews - all from your existing WiFi.