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The International Hotel WiFi 'Crisis'

December 6, 2006 at 1:24 PM | 2 Comments

We all know that the visiting hotels abroad can bring serious WiFi issues and now Times UK business travel columnist Mark Frary ruminates on the worldwide hotel WiFi situation.

In the past week alone, I have spent £41 on wireless internet access in hotels across the world. At the Observatory Hotel in Sydney, I paid A$39.95 (£16) for a day's access while at Taj's Blue hotel, across the city, I paid A$24.95 (£10).

But there is hope in the UK Frary writes, at places like Radisson SAS, Britannia and Best Western properties. In the U.S., he cites Kimpton as being one of the free WiFi hotels (although we suspect not for long) and two other hotels in California that charged $9.95 a day.

Then there is an argument positioned about whether or not we hotel guests should be pushing for free hotel WiFi which is actually a bit insignificant at this point. With hotel properties like Jeff Klein's hotels, Kimptons, Best Westerns, Holiday Inns and even W Hotels (albeit just their "living rooms") already successfully offering free WiFi, there's really no excuse for any other hotel, especially the big chains, to not offer this service for guests.

Related Stories:
· The hotel wi-fi rip off [Times Online]

2 Comments

  1. Tim L.

    HotelChatter Member
    December 6, 2006 at 3:07 PM




    Re: The International Hotel WiFi 'Crisis'

    I don't think these business hotels realize how much they are shooting themselves in the foot. I know quite a few wealthy entrepreneurs who choose their hotel based on who has free wi-fi. To them, it's a matter of principle. They'd rather go down a notch to the 3-1/2 star level and get free Web access--which they consider as essential as a pillow--than to to book a 4-star hotel that's going to charge them $15 a day for it. My local coffee shop beats the pants off the local Starbucks for the same reason, incidentally. Whay pay three times the price of a cup of coffee to log on when it's free down the street?

    If you are not on an expense account, these charges really color your opinion of the hotel--for the worse.

  1. djk

    HotelChatter Member
    December 7, 2006 at 10:11 AM




    Re: The International Hotel WiFi 'Crisis'

    "If you are not on an expense account, these charges really color your opinion of the hotel--for the worse."

    Agreed - I find it horribly tacky when "nice" hotels truly ream you over wifi. Don't even get me started on ETHERNET!

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