How The Cordish Companies revitalize the guest experience

The Cordish Companies is a leading real estate development and operating firm that’s based in Baltimore, Maryland. It has tremendous expertise in various areas of commercial real estate, including Mixed-Use Developments, Lifestyle & Retail Centers and Corporate Offices.

As a winner of 7 Urban Land Institute Awards for Excellence (more than any other developer in the world), The Cordish Companies is known for revitalizing unique and significant properties across the US. CNN commended the company for reshaping Baltimore’s Inner Harbor, and also recognized it as one of the most acclaimed developers in the United States.

The Cordish Companies was keenly aware of the changing behaviors of guests at the entertainment districts. With online and mobile commerce making it easy for people to buy what they need from anywhere, The Cordish Companies knew that it needed to provide rich physical experiences to compel guests to visit its properties.

Part of doing that involved offering free WiFi. Providing Internet access would help make visits to The Cordish Companies’ properties much more pleasant, thus enticing guests to visit and stay longer at the entertainment district.

The Cordish Companies also wanted to boost real-time guest engagement and it knew that having an in-depth knowledge of on-site behavior was the first step to doing that.

After evaluating options, Cordish chose Cloud4Wi — in part because it integrated seamlessly across a heterogeneous, multi-vendor network, making it easy to launch and optimize new WiFi. Cordish has since consolidated its infrastructure onto a unified Aruba network, further simplifying management across all locations. Cordish was impressed by Cloud4Wi’s ability to collect guest data — demographics and location-based behavior — using WiFi as a touchpoint in the visitation journey, plus out-of-the-box engagement tools to connect with guests in real time based on on-site behavior.

“By embracing Cloud4Wi, we were able to turn WiFi from an amenity into a powerful business tool that allowed us to gather actionable insights into who guests are and how they behave in our properties. The customer data that Cloud4Wi offered served as the missing piece that other sources couldn’t provide.”
— Paul Weil, Director of Information Services, The Cordish Companies

The Cordish Companies deployed Cloud4Wi starting from the Spring of 2018. The project consisted of implementing Cloud4Wi in 20 entertainment districts. Promoting free WiFi involved the use of digital signage in common areas, as well as window stickers and table signs at restaurants. Since every property was unique, the company gave the managers in each location the ability to decide how to sponsor the WiFi initiatives.

Branded captive portals made login easy, with options like email and Facebook plus fields such as name and phone number, maximizing data collection while giving guests choice. Everything was set up with privacy in mind. Today, the portal captures email for 100% of new users and phone numbers — as an optional field — for 56.6% of them, with a 100% marketing opt-in rate for both email and phone communications.

Cloud4Wi assigned a digital identity to each opted-in guest’s device, so Cordish could recognize returning guests and understand on-site behavior. By integrating Cloud4Wi with its CRM, Cordish built a 360-degree view combining location behavior, online sources, and ticket sales — letting the marketing team craft highly targeted campaigns and build one-to-one relationships.

For instance, guests could receive a “Thank You” email with a $10 food credit on WiFi sign-in, a “Welcome Back” $10 credit for loyal guests, or texts promoting events with ticket discounts. During and after the pandemic, guests received COVID-19 countermeasure updates and invites to exclusive events