http://www.hotelchatter.com/ Hotel Reviews, Hotel Ratings, Hotel Openings en-us Copyright 2008 - SFO Media 2009-11-08T13:24:40Z HotelChatter HotelChatter http://www.hotelchatter.com/images/hcwhite.jpg http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/WiFi%20Hell http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/9/3/121418/1262 <![CDATA[<p><p> <i>We are suckers for a room with a killer view. &nbsp;We find that we are even more likely to forgive some minor hotel inconveniences if we can stare out the window at something pretty--yeah we are that shallow. Let's help out our fellow hotel mavens by uploading rooms with killer views to the <a href="http://flickr.com/groups/hotelchatter/">HotelChatter/Flickr photo pool</a>, or by <a href="mailto:tips@hotelchatter.com">sending the photo along to us</a>. We will feature our favorites in this space from time to time. Remember to tell us the name of the hotel and the room number of the hot view.</i><p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/palazzoviewupclose.jpg" class="top"><p> It's not that often that we get rooms with a killer view in Las Vegas. Like everything else in Sin City--if you juliana 2009-09-03T12:16:23-05:00 36.1223434 -115.17123 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/8/26/18318/3942 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/1425/westinnowifi.jpg" class="top"><p><i>Heavenly beds at the Westin Bonaventure in LA.</i><p> Most of us agree that the <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Westin%20hotels"><b>Westin Hotels</b></a> <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/Westin%20Heavenly%20Bed">Heavenly Bed</a> feels quite nice and those of us who have tried the hotel brand's new <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/7/8/135535/3338/hotels/Testing_Out_Westin_s_Heavenly_Bath_Toiletries">Heavenly Bath</a> toiletries would agree that the shampoo, conditioner, body lotion, et.al, go above and beyond what we would expect from hotel toiletries. But when it comes down to Westin WiFi, the experience is more hellacious than heavenly.<p>Westin is part of Starwood Hotels and while the WiFi is free in the lobbies, in-room guests have to pay. Usually the fee starts at $9.95 and goes up from there, depending on the hotel. <p>Paying for WiFi is akin to those ridiculous <a href="http://www.jaunted.com/tag/checked baggage juliana 2009-08-26T18:46:20-05:00 42.3476790 -71.044985 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/7/1/134912/3679 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/gildhallwifi.jpg" class="top"> <p>Yikes. We stumbled upon this shot on Flickr and were not pleased to lay our eyes upon it &#151; though we were grateful that our own WiFi connections were, um, at least fast enough to load Flickr in a timely fashion. <p>This is a screenshot from guest <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/evoque/3531843881/">evoque</a>, who apparently stayed at <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Gild+Hall/local/869">Gild Hall</a></b> and had to fork over a 10-er in order to connect to the WiFi network. At a speed of 512k. Slow. Lame. Boo. The caption on the shot reads: <blockquote><p>$10/day for a blazing 512k/512k WiFi connection &#151; it's more Internet side road than Internet superhighway.</p></blockquote> <p>And we all know that people who are down with clever wordplay deserve faster WiFi, right? Jenna 2009-07-01T14:02:14-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/5/26/15945/7026 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6193/iBahn1.jpg" class="top"> <p>In an ideal, globally-connected world, all hotels would have free and fast WiFi. This is however not a perfect world, and so traveling across borders with the intention of checking your email or uploading pictures to your Flickr is often a bigger headache that it should be. <p>Our most recent instance of entering <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/wifi%20hell">Hotel WiFi Hell</a></b> occurred during our 3-night stay at the centrally-located and business traveler-happy <b><a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Berlin+Marriott+Hotel/ian/215578">Marriott Berlin</a></b>. After enjoying free and freeflowing access at a much cheaper hotel elsewhere in the city for our first few days in Berlin, we were admittedly spoiled. Nonetheless, we found the internet plan at the Marriott too exorbitant for any visitor: <p>&#183; One hour of access (common JetSetCD 2009-05-26T15:43:41-05:00 http://www.hotelchatter.com/story/2009/4/10/141558/586 <![CDATA[<p><img src="http://www.hotelchatter.com/files/6929/HIHongKongWiFi.jpg" class="top"> <p>Oh noes. Say what you will about <a href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/tag/holiday inns">Holiday Inns</a>, but HI's Internet is usually, these days, fairly fast and totally free. Well, 'round these parts, anyway. We're sad to hear from Canadian blogger <a href="http://acurrie.wordpress.com/2009/01/08/the-internet-in-asia-locals-vs-tourists/">Andrew Currie</a> that, over in Hong Kong, that's notsomuch the case. He documents his Internet troubles at the <b><A href="http://www.hotelchatter.com/hotel-reviews/Holiday+Inn+Golden+Mile/ian/149130">Holiday Inn Hong Kong Golden Mile</a></b>: <blockquote><p>Unlimited access set me back $160 HKD per day, or about $25 CAD. At this price you might think I'd be tempted to leave my laptop packed and use my phone exclusively, but even with Opera Mini paring down the average full web page to a paltry 50K or so I would still pay 5¢/kB in Jenna 2009-04-10T14:27:33-05:00 Search HotelChatter string http://www.hotelchatter.com/search/