Fydelia has six people. Its guest Wi-Fi runs across a client list that includes Caravan, Black Sheep Coffee, Rosa's Thai, Wahaca and The Alchemist. Founder and CEO Steve Parkinson says that comes from keeping things "really real and human", and from a company named after loyalty that has tried to show some.

Steve dropped in from Alicante to talk to host Chris Fletcher on the latest episode of the Stacked hospitality tech podcast. They covered how Fydelia started, why most Wi-Fi sign-up forms push guests away, and what AI is doing to the way tech suppliers build and charge. Here's what operators and suppliers can take from it.

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1. A £450 splash page that started a business

Steve's background is in programming. He published games for the Acorn under Superior Software, studied the subject properly at university, then spent years as a Microsoft-certified trainer and contractor. Fydelia started almost by accident. In 2017 Ponti's, which then had a restaurant above Liverpool Street station, asked him to build a Wi-Fi splash page.

"Sounds like a one-page website. How much do we charge?" The going rate was about £450 a year. Steve thought that was too much for one page. He also asked why venues couldn't build their own, and Fydelia became an on-demand platform that lets them do exactly that.

The team didn't look at competitors early on, and that turned out to help. They charged per venue without knowing the industry usually charged per access point. Per-venue pricing is still at the core of how Fydelia sells today.

2. Loyalty works in both directions

Steve's wife Stephie came up with the name. It comes from the word for loyal, and the company was tested on that during COVID. When venues closed, Fydelia moved every customer to a free service, and anyone who had paid in advance had the time added to their next bill.

Some competitors told him they had collected their annual fees just before lockdown. Fydelia went the other way. When venues reopened on 15 May 2021 (a date Steve still remembers), two customers sent emotional emails because everything was still running when they came back.

"People talk in hospitality," Steve says, and Fletcher agreed that the sector is on another level for word of mouth. Upset an operator and everyone hears about it. Look after them and everyone hears about that too. Fydelia keeps the same flexibility now. If a venue closes for a long refurbishment, it isn't held to a 12-month contract. "We want to charge you when you're getting the value."

3. Scaling without losing the personal touch

Fletcher asked whether a supplier can keep putting customers first as it grows. Steve called it a "fine balance". Small teams can keep things personal, but every business needs to scale, and a client that wants constant attention may not be the right fit.

His answer is to make the product teach itself. When a fast-growing group like Black Sheep Coffee brings in new marketers, Fydelia's training academy takes them through the platform in a gamified, Duolingo-style way. The team still does plenty of one-to-one training, and the academy frees up time for conversations that need a person.

4. Stop asking guests for everything at once

Steve's main point is about data capture. He described the worst version: it's raining, the kids are crying, the guest is tired and waiting for a table, and a form demands their name, mobile, email and the reason for their visit. He compared it to the Terminator scene: "I need your clothes, your boots..."

His fix is to start with why. Explain the value exchange and ask only for what your campaigns need. A birthday field is a good example. "We want to celebrate your special day. When is it?" gets a better response than a date picker that asks for day, month and year. You don't need the year at all.

The stakes are going up. Fletcher said his 19-year-old son "gives nothing up" and won't sign into anything. Younger guests are aware of fraud and bad actors in AI, and they need a reason to share their details. Steve also pointed out that GDPR ended the old Facebook-gating trick (like our page to get online), but it still lets venues make a fair offer. To get the free coffee, guests need to opt in to promotions.

He also called out two common problems: "check your mailbox to continue" verification steps that send guests off to one of several inboxes, and sign-in buttons that simply don't work. Emails can be verified down to mailbox level without interrupting the guest. Some providers still make guests register with the Wi-Fi company rather than the venue, and Steve thinks that misses the point entirely.

5. Wi-Fi is your first digital touchpoint, so make it fun

Fletcher asked how much of the first ten minutes of a visit depends on Wi-Fi. "I think it's 90%," Steve said. Apart from the booking, it's the first digital interaction a guest has once they're in the venue, so "make damn sure that it's on brand, that it's fun, and it's engaging."

He thinks guests want two things. The first is certainty: good food, good service and friendly staff. The second is variety, and that's where Wi-Fi can help. A spin-to-win, a two-for-one or an animated ad card can change a guest's mood. At Halloween, put ghosts and lightning on the splash page. "Get a smile on the face. Now you've got them." A guest in a good mood is more open to the offers on the table talkers and the menu.

Joining that up with what happens next matters too. Wi-Fi data only earns its keep when it flows into your CRM and loyalty programme. Our guide to where AI actually pays in hospitality covers why joined-up guest data matters.

6. The best tech is the tech nobody notices

Does hospitality have too much tech? "No, Chris, we need more," Steve said, only half joking. He thinks tech has two jobs. It has to deliver, and it can't get in the way of the human side.

His example was Forrest Gump. The CGI that removed Gary Sinise's legs was so subtle that Steve assumed the film had cast an amputee. Hospitality tech should work the same way. It should take away the busy work behind the scenes so teams can spend more time with guests.

That ties in with something Feedelity told the podcast recently. Across thousands of venues' feedback data, service matters more than anything else. Even when guests complain about the food, "you can recover anything with a decent human."

7. AI slop vs AI with a sense of humour

On AI in marketing, Steve's rule is that once you lose the emotional connection, you lose the guest. Lazy, obvious AI content makes people switch off. He thinks AI can still be used to make people laugh.

Fydelia spoofed the AI-generated wellness ads that fill social feeds and made its own: "If my husband installs Fydelia Wi-Fi, what can he expect? After one day, he will feel more confident... After one month, he will break the internet with his Wi-Fi analytics. Will it make my husband better looking? No. This is magic marketing, not magic."

The same goes for social media generally. Steve posts dog-walk videos when he has something worth saying and doesn't post content for the sake of it. People respond to someone they can relate to, not "beautify mode".

8. Two and a half years of work in two months

The summer of 2026 was a quiet one for hospitality, with the heat, the World Cup and a long summer all hitting at once. Fydelia used the lull to build, and Steve reckons the team got about two and a half years of work done in July and August, with AI doing much of the heavy lifting. "There's six of us in the company. So, 16 if you count AI."

He doesn't see that as a faster version of the old way of working. "You would never watch a Formula 1 race and say, 'these are so much faster than bicycles'. It's a different sport entirely." Fletcher said the same is true at Stacked, where AI has taken over the bits that used to break in the middle of a project, leaving more room for proper conversations.

The operators who get the most from tech are the ones focused on outcomes, Steve says. The ones with a checklist (POS, order at table, Wi-Fi, "we're done") get much less. "I'd like to think that we get started where everyone else thinks they finished." For more on where AI fits in a restaurant business, read The Operator's Guide to AI in Hospitality.

9. If tech is faster to build, should it cost less?

Fletcher asked the question operators are starting to ask. If suppliers can ship this quickly, will buyers see lower prices? Steve thinks they will push for it. "Your customers will be on to you." He expects bronze, silver and pro tiers that unlock features to start disappearing, because it's getting harder to justify charging extra for features that are now quick to build.

Fydelia has had one price with everything included for close to nine years. The exception, Steve says, is where a feature carries a real extra cost, and AI is one of those. Both agreed that AI isn't free and its costs are likely to rise next year.

10. Three areas of tech Steve would invest in

If he were running a hospitality business with only three tech areas to spend on (on top of the basics like POS and scheduling), Steve would pick:

• Social media that feels real and relatable, with automation handling the busy work.

• Guest Wi-Fi, because it's the first digital interaction in the venue and still has a lot of untapped potential.

• CRM and loyalty, because collecting data only matters if you use it to bring guests back.

He'd drop order at table, which got a laugh from Fletcher. Steve likes the technology and accepts it has its time and place, like the Black Sheep Coffee kiosks that work well in high-footfall sites. But if he could only choose three, he'd keep the human interaction at the table.

Key takeaways for hospitality operators

• Treat guest Wi-Fi as your first digital touchpoint. Keep it on brand, quick and fun.

• Ask only for the data you'll use, and tell guests why you're asking.

• Expect younger guests to share less unless the value exchange is clear.

• Make sure Wi-Fi data feeds your CRM and loyalty programme.

• Use tech to remove busy work, not the people guests come back for.

• Look for suppliers that offer flexibility, like per-venue pricing and contracts that pause when you close.

• Expect pricing pressure as AI makes features faster to build.

Want to see how Fydelia works? Find them on the Stacked marketplace, or browse more scored guest Wi-Fi, CRM and loyalty partners in the marketplace.

Is your guest data working as hard as it could? Book a free Stacked Tech Check. We'll review your setup, score it, and show you where you're overpaying, where you're locked in and where your systems aren't talking to each other. It's free for operators, and there's no sales pitch unless you ask for one.