HotelChatter

Jet-lagged and feeling the stress of impending deadlines in a different time zone, we hurriedly set ourselves up for a long internet work session at the desk in our room. After paying the 19 Euro for access, we were able to visit only two websites before the internet completely conked out on us. A half-hour phone call to the business center, in English with some halting German thrown in, got us nowhere, so we reluctantly got dressed and headed down in person.

The Sheraton at Frankfurt Airport is good at only three things when it comes to the internet, it seems: 1: refunding the money you spent when it won't work. 2: answering phone calls from other guests with the same problem, but no solution 3: keeping the business center open 24 hours a day.

The internet never worked on our computer in our room again over the next two and a half days, and Starwood's responsive Twitter wasn't any help either. Facing what seemed like a bland eternity of work in the business center, we protested against paying another 19 Euro for use of their corded ethernet hookups (yes, even the biz center charges) and managed to hook into the only free port in the place. Working late into the night, we overheard phone call after phone call to the tech desk by similarly frustrated guests, and we turned down passes from businessmen also relying on business center internet.

Oh, but it doesn't end there. On Day 2, we attempted to claim our free half-hour of lobby WiFi on our iPhone again, but the page to log back in to our hotel WiFi account isn't properly formatted for smartphones, and we got nowhere.

Since the Sheraton Frankfurt Airport is such an important business and convention hotel (not to mention that it's in Germany), you'd think that their pricey internet would be more reliable. But no, of course not. And you know what would solve the problems of the guests and the harried staff? That's right—free hotel WiFi. Our crusade continues.

[Photo: HotelChatter]