Tag: International Hotel WiFi View All Tags
Tags: Hotel Technology / Hong Kong Hotels / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags
Hong Kong's Upper House Hotel Does Technology Right
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.
Tags: Hotel Technology / International Hotel WiFi / Vienna Hotels / WiFi Heaven / → All Tags
Grand Hotel In Vienna Grandly Gives Us WiFi
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.
Tags: International Hotel WiFi / Thailand Hotels / → All Tags
Email By The Pool At Pattaya's The Venue
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.
Tags: NYT Reviews / Barcelona Hotels / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags
NYT Likes the 360-Degree Views at the Barcelo Raval
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.
Tags: WiFi Hell / Marriott Hotels / Berlin Hotels / Hotel WiFi / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags
The Marriott Berlin Charges $530 For WiFi Access
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)
Tags: 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.
Tags: Hotel WiFi / Snapshot / Hotel Amenities / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags
In Berlin, Ask For Strong WiFi and Ye Shall Receive
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]
Tags: International Hotel WiFi / Barcelona Hotels / Free WiFi Hotels / → All Tags
A Budget Barcelona Hotel Has Secret Free WiFi
We picked up a rumor on German photographer Mareen Fischinger's blog that the not-overly-spectacular Balmoral Hotel in Barcelona had free WiFi. Since this hotel has rooms going for about half the price of the last Barcelona hotel we found WiFi at, we thought we'd better check it out.
Search the Balmoral Hotel website as you will, the best we can find is a mention of modem connections in every room. Nothing about access, certainly no mention of WiFi, and no magic phrase "it's free" either. So we emailed them to check and guess what:
We have wifi Internet in the whole hotel. It is free access for our guests.
Woo-hoo! Barcelona rooms at €60 ($75) a night, WiFi included. We are definitely not complaining about that.
Tags: International Hotel WiFi / Free WiFi Hotels / Barcelona Hotels / → All Tags
Barcelona's Cristal Palace Only Has Good WiFi on the First Night
We're always heartened to hear of hotel WiFi that not only doesn't cost anything extra, but also actually works. As in, whenever you want, you can actually check your email--it's not a big ask these days.
So we started off quite pleased to read a NewsWireless mention of the Eurostars Cristal Palace Hotel in Barcelona. The reporter checked into the hotel, switched on his laptop and the WiFi "just worked right away". And it's free. All good so far.
But the next morning, despite changing nothing, the WiFi didn't work on that computer anymore--even though other people could log on. Not being able to discuss the problem well enough in Spanish, and with staff who couldn't deal with the drama in English, the tech troubleshooting came to a standstill and the reporter ended up "freezing his arse off" in an internet cafe.
With a double room putting you back a minimum of €127 ($160) at the Cristal Palace, landing in an internet cafe to read your mail is not really on. Still need some work on their technology over in Barcelona.
[Photo: jaju]
Tags: International Hotel WiFi / WiFi Hell / Expedia / → All Tags
In Solidarity with Expedia for Free Wi-Fi For All
Expedia totally has our back: Like us, they’ve started railing against hotels to offer free Wi-Fi. After a study that examined its top destinations for UK travelers, the booking site concluded that budget hotels are more likely to offer free Wi-Fi than expensive ones.
The good news for those of us on this side of the pond is that U.S. rates were found to be cheaper here (but mark our words, we won’t rest until it’s FREE everywhere!). The lowest rates Expedia found were in Florida, where average rates are reportedly just over $1 an hour. In New York, rates average around $3 an hour. Of course, those are just averages, meaning plenty of places still rate gouge with the best of ’em.
But that’s nothing compared to Venice, the city with the most expensive rates (at least among the destinations Expedia examined), averaging roughly $9.50 an hour. More offensive rates: around $8 an hour in Madrid and $7.50 in Paris.
The take-away tip? Look for hotels with lower star ratings, which are more likely to offer free Wi-Fi. (Five-star hotels are the worst, charging up to $27 an hour for the basic right of Internet access.)
In the words of Alison Couper, communications director for Expedia: "In the 21st century, getting online while you travel should be simple and cost effective — instead it seems it is confusing and overpriced.”
Amen, sister.
Tags: HotelChatter 2008 Awards / International Hotel WiFi / → All Tags
Best International Hotel WiFi: Emirates Palace
Best International Hotel WiFi: Emirates Palace
2008 was a year of great improvements for Hotel WiFi both here in the U.S. and abroad.
More and more hotels began offering wireless internet to its guests (although, not all of 'em were doing it for free.) And when we traveled to Europe in the fall, we had two positive WiFi experiences in Barcelona and in Paris. Of course, we had some issues with the internet in Munich. Fellow HotelChatterer JennM had some hell she experienced at the El Coloso Hotel in Madrid. But even the notorious WiFi gougers in the UK started to jump on the cheap and reliable WiFi bandwagon. A very good bandwagon to ride.
Yet probably the best example of international hotel WiFi has to go to the Emirates Palace in Abu Dhabi. If you can manage to get to Abu Dhabi, you can rest assured that your internet connection will be fast, free and most of all, safe. From USA Today:
The computer and broadcast network — and its 3.5 terabyte storage network — can be cut off completely from the outside world, like the U.S. government's secure intranet
The hotel actually upgraded its system in June increasing the signal so guests can even access the internet from the beach. Then again, when you're playing around $1,000 a night, you should have access to whatever you like--on the internet or off.
[Photo: Rooroy]
Tags: Barcelona Hotels / HotelChatter Reviews / International Hotel WiFi / Hotel Video Tours / → All Tags
The Gallery Hotel Has So-So WiFi But Great Toiletries
Last month when we hit up Barcelona we stayed in two hotels. The first was the crazy/sexy/cool Omm Hotel which we told you about last week. The second hotel was the less sexy and less cool Gallery Hotel. But we aren't trying to be dismissive here.
The Gallery was actually a wonderful, full-service hotel just across the street from the Omm with a helpful staff, spacious rooms, an abundance of toiletries and a pretty courtyard view--at least from the room we were in.
It's just that the Gallery is not design-forward like the Omm. Staying here is not an experience in itself but it's a perfectly good place to sleep for two nights.
Hotels In: Africa | Asia | Australia | Caribbean | Europe | North America | South America
Our Publications:
Jaunted | HotelChatter | VegasChatter
