HotelChatter

Free WiFi / Hotel News / International Hotel WiFi / Accor Hotels / Marriott Hotels / Marriott Rewards / France Hotels / Australia Hotels / Asia Hotels / Hotel WiFi / → All Tags

Finding Free WiFi Just Got a Hell of a Lot Easier in France, Australia and Asia

Seen at the Novotel Gare du Lyon in Paris

UPDATE: We goofed. Accor Hotels has been providing free WiFi in all their hotels in France since July 1, 2010.

We'd like to think that this latest bit of news from Accor Hotels in France and Marriott Hotels in Australia and Asia had something to do with our Hotel WiFi Report which we released on Tuesday, but never matter, we're just happy that finding free WiFi at these hotels just got a hell of a lot easier.

First up, Accor Hotels has told HotelChatter that starting since July 1 of 2010, all their hotels (about 1,400 total) in France will offer free WiFi. This includes the brands Hotel F1, Ibis, All Seasons, Mercure Hotels, Novotel Hotels, Pullman Hotels and Sofitel Hotels. They also have plans to roll out free WiFi progressively at their hotels in Europe. Sadly, in America, you will still have to pay at Sofitel hotels.

more ›

Annual WiFi Report / Hotel WiFi / International Hotel WiFi / HotelChatter Guides / Tips / → All Tags

HotelChatter's 2011 Hotel WiFi Report

**A HotelChatter Exclusive**

Chances are, you are probably reading our seventh annual WiFi Report right now on your iPad. Or your iPhone. Or your Blackberry, Droid, Kindle or Galaxy Tablet, if anyone actually uses those.

Much like cellphones have practically put land lines out of business, mobile devices are fast changing the way we sign onto the web when we’re on the go. And that includes when we're staying in hotels.

While the hardware we carry into hotel rooms is changing seemingly from one month to the next, our demands free and reliable WiFi have not wavered a bit. And as more and more of us start to travel with cellphones, laptops and tablets, the call for free WiFi is more urgent than ever.

Yet hotels around the world, especially those luxury ones, are still charging daily rates of $10 or more for WiFi. Worse, some are even double-dinging us for our mobile devices.

This leaves guests the choice of navigating the always, ever-changing WiFi fees at mid and high-end hotels, or spending the night at budget places just for the internet.

So you better know the lay of the free hotel WiFi land before you book your room. After all, the one thing we can do as loyal, frequent hotel guests is vote "free WiFi" with our credit cards.

Once again, we’ve broken down the Hotel WiFi landscape into Best Hotels, Worst Hotels and the best and worst from the International Hotel Scene. We’ve also added a couple of new sections; picking out the Best and Worst cities for free hotel WiFi, tips on getting secondary devices on for free when the hotel wants you to pay per device, and where to stay in stylin' and free WiFin', to name a few.

more ›

International Hotel WiFi / Hotel WiFi / WiFi Heaven / Ritz-Carlton Hotels / Ireland Hotels / → All Tags

The Ritz-Carlton in Ireland is Giving It Up for Free (The WiFi, That Is)

Where: Powerscourt Estate, Enniskerry, Ireland

If you've been reading our Annual WiFi Reports, then you know how we feel about International Hotel WiFi (If you need a refresher, go see about our recent WiFi Hell at the Sheraton Frankfurt.)

You also know that the more you pay for your hotel room, the less likely your internet connection is to be free. And the repeat offenders who make our naughty list year after year are the luxury brands like the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carltons. But there might be an exception to that crappy rule.

Check out this amenity listing at the Ritz Carlton Powerscourt near Dublin, Ireland:

more ›

Plug Panels / Hotel Technology / International Hotel WiFi / Capella Resorts / Dusseldorf Hotels / Germany Hotels / Luxury Hotels / → All Tags

From Touchpanels to Free WiFi: This Luxury Hotel Loves Its Tech

Where: Königsallee 11, Dusseldorf, Germany, 40212

Picture this: you've just arrived to your room in a luxury European hotel. You're tired, a little sweaty, and your phone is out of battery life. Because of the time difference, you've also got to start working on your computer right away, but you can't locate the electrical outlets. A quick, feverish look around the room don't reveal any and then—like a lightbulb going on over your head—you have the sudden idea to check the desk drawer, and there they are. A pair of polished-up glimmering outlets, an ethernet port and A/V cable ports are right there at easy reach and out of sight. It's brilliant.

It's what we found in the rooms at the 5-star Breidenbacher Hof, a Capella Hotel in Düsseldorf, Germany, and we've never seen a plug panel so advanced.

more ›

Cannes Film Festival Hotels / Hotel Restaurants / International Hotel WiFi / Celebrity Scoop / → All Tags

Sorry, We Can't Muster Up Excitement Over Cannes This Year

Same old, same old.

Every year without fail Hollywood takes a working vacation to France for the Annual Cannes International Film Festival and every year, hotels in Cannes get besieged by the A-list stars, directors, producers, agents and inevitably some reality TV show stars.

And every year, we watch the festivities with no real emotion as it's the same old dog and pony show every year. Rinse, lather, pull out any Jon Gosselin-types and then repeat in 12 months. Plus, it's not like we can even afford a hotel room there. And if we did, it would probably have been sold out months ago. So unless something major happens this year, we're going to avoid reporting on the scene.

But if you insist on knowing what's going on right now, we'll pick out what we've found to be interesting hotel-wise so far.

more ›

Hotel Technology / Hong Kong Hotels / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags

Hong Kong's Upper House Hotel Does Technology Right

Where: 88 Queensway, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Technology is meant to be all about making our lives easier, right? The newly-opened Upper House Hotel in Hong Kong seems to have got this figured out just right.

The hi-tech experience starts from the airport transfer in a (good-for-the-environment) hybrid Lexus car, because this car has got WiFi on board, and it's free for you to use for the whole ride to the hotel, and back. This would sure give us a great first impression, and it sounds like it continues, because the Upper House provides free internet connection (WiFi and wired) throughout all the guest rooms and public areas of the hotel.

more ›

Hotel Technology / International Hotel WiFi / Vienna Hotels / WiFi Heaven / → All Tags

Grand Hotel In Vienna Grandly Gives Us WiFi

Where: Kaerntner Ring 9, Vienna, Austria, 101

When you turn up to stay at the Grand Hotel Wien in Vienna, you'll likely be thinking along the lines of "old elegance" and "grand luxury" rather than "high technology" – but you might be pleasantly surprised.

This grand old dame of a hotel has just got itself hooked up to a WiFi network system which claims to be one of the best. (Well, actually it claims to be the best, but we think that's hard to prove). The NonStop Wireless Networking, a Belden brand, has been installed in 140 different access points within the hotel – we assume that means that most or all of the guest rooms now have WiFi. The system has actually been extended to the hotel across the road, The Ring, which is owned by the same company.

more ›

International Hotel WiFi / Thailand Hotels / → All Tags

Email By The Pool At Pattaya's The Venue

Where: Thappraya Road, Pattaya, Thailand

In our neverending quest for finding hotels around the world with sensible WiFi — in other words, WiFi that not only works but is also free — we were daydreaming this week about vacationing near the beach in Thailand and we came across someone with a similar wish looking for WiFi in Pattaya.

Any beachside town will do, we figure, so Pattaya is an interesting spot for us, and according to the locals there are quite a few hotels with good WiFi. But the one that grabbed our attention is The Venue, a stylish and very gay-friendly hotel near the beach. What grabs us most is this:

The Venue [has] wireless throughout the hotel...very relaxing around the pool doing laptop work.

The Venue is a boutique hotel and the private pool is not huge, but if you're typing away you probably don't want too many people jumping into the pool and splashing you, so we figure it's a great combination. A standard room will cost you just 1,290 Baht ($40) in the low season, or you can splash out on a junior suite, which goes up to 2,390 Baht ($70) a night in high season.

NYT Reviews / Barcelona Hotels / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags

NYT Likes the 360-Degree Views at the Barcelo Raval

Where: Rambla del Raval, 17-21, Barcelona, Spain

Two things we love: Free Wi-Fi (duh) and a killer view. So naturally we're pretty excited about Barceló Raval, a hotel that opened last fall in Barcelona. Via the New York Times, we hear the hotel proffers 360-degree views from the roof terrace, which just so happens to also boast free Wi-Fi (offered throughout the rest of the hotel too). Um, yes please.

The Barcelo Raval is "meant to help anchor a bold urban revival program in Barcelona's famously seedy Raval neighborhood just west of the famous — and somewhat seedy itself — Rambla de Catalunya," reports the NYT, who also aads that a "bit of urban grit can be a good thing" in "bourgeois Barcelona." The 186-room hotel sits within walking distance of many of the city's attractions.

more ›

WiFi Hell / Marriott Hotels / Berlin Hotels / Hotel WiFi / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags

The Marriott Berlin Charges $530 For WiFi Access

Where: Inge-Beisheim Platz, Berlin, Germany

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.

Our most recent instance of entering Hotel WiFi Hell occurred during our 3-night stay at the centrally-located and business traveler-happy Marriott Berlin. 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:

· One hour of access (common areas): € 6.95 ($9.72)
· One hour of access (in room): € 5.95 ($8.32)
· 24 hours: € 19.95 ($27.91)
· One week: € 99.75 ($139.56)
· One month: € 379.05 ($530.33)

more ›

International Hotel WiFi / San Marino Hotels / → All Tags

San Marino Has Great WiFi, and It's Gratuito

When Gary Arndt, round-the-world blogger of Everything Everywhere fame, twittered about hotel internet access yesterday, we took note.

Gary said:

I'm in my hotel in San Marino. I must say the internet here is the best I've had on my entire trip. Period.

Curious as ever about tiny European countries — San Marino is 23 square miles in size and has just 30,000 people, and you can find it near the north-east coast of Italy — we decided to check out the San Marino hotel offerings and their internet leanings a bit more closely.

more ›

Hotel WiFi / Snapshot / Hotel Amenities / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags

In Berlin, Ask For Strong WiFi and Ye Shall Receive

Where: Knesebeckstr. 63/Kurfürstendamm, Berlin, Germany, 10719

What do you get when you ask nicely for a room with a strong WiFi signal?

If you're lucky, you get what appears to be the best WiFi room in the house: the one with the router on the wall right outside your door. It's our wildest WiFi fantasy come true.

This shot was snapped in the hallway of the Berlin Plaza Hotel, a three-star hotel in Germany that offers free wireless everywhere in the hotel — and especially here. Nevermind that the Netgear box chillin' on the wall may not be the most attractive decor... 'cause you can bet Irish Typepad didn't have much trouble uploading that photo to Flickr.

[Photo: Irish Typepad]