HotelChatter

Gansevoort Hotel Group

Elon Kenchington, chief operating officer, says that some of the bigger hotel chains out there charging for WiFi are operating from the "old school" perspective of running hotels. Meaning that these hotels have a separate department for communications and their main goal is to make money.

In the past, these departments made money from in-room telephone calls (remember how expensive those were/are?), fax services and business centers. But since so many people travel with their cellphones and/or blackberrys this division of the hotel had to find new sources of revenue, hence the internet fees.

Over at the Gansevoort, the in-room communications--telephone/internet/biz center--is handled by the rooms division which places more emphasis on customer care. And the cost of the internet and the use of the business center is absorbed into the room rate.

We do it to make everything seamless for our guests. We want to offer them the highest level of service. Time is money. And time taken away from you can lead to impatience. So making a guest enter in a credit card or a code or a room number is really seen as a lesser level of service.

The Gansevoort is also going beyond internet. At the Gansevoort South the hotel has enhanced cellphone reception meaning you should always get five bars wherever you are in the hotel thus enabling you to stay addicted to your Crackberry.

Thompson Hotels
Stephen Brandman of Thompson Hotels says his hotel chain also does it out of loyalty for the guests. Thompson brings in a good mix of both business and pleasure travelers and most of them, regardless of the trip's purpose are hauling their laptops with them.

Many of our travelers whether here on business or on pleasure bring laptops and for 2008 we are committed to providing this as a benefit to our guests. We have always found it strange when hotels charge for things like incoming faxes and delivery of FedExes.

Let's hope that Thompson sticks with this added benefit beyond 2008.

Kimpton Hotels
Niki Leondakis, chief operating officer, was baffled when we mentioned that some hotels offer WiFi for free in their lobbies but charged for it in the guestrooms.

Since Kimpton's always provided free WiFi throughout their hotels (with the exception of the NYC properties), her reaction was completely understandable. Why aren't other hotel execs thinking this way? (Cough, Starwood, cough).

Here's what Leondakis said about the Kimpton WiFi:

As a leader in the lifestyle boutique category, we know that life today requires easy connectivity. One way we tend to the comfort of our guests is by making it simple to be as connected as people want to be 24 hours a day.

Remember if you are staying at either 70 Park Ave or the Muse Hotel in NYC, become a member of the Kimpton InTouch program and that will get you complimentary internet access.

Personality Hotels
Yvonne Lembi-Detert started offering complimentary WiFi in the lobbies of her Personality Hotels back in 2003 and soon after placed it in the guestrooms.

Our guests love it and it is one of our best hotel amenities and popular features. It's so easy. Guests just need a password to log on. They don't have to go searching for a hotspot.

While she admits it's an expensive cost for hotels to set the network up, the payback comes when guests return for a second or third time.

Share your own thoughts on Hotel WiFi in comments below.