When in Bordeaux, though some might enjoy more classical or idyllically French things, or wine, some might go avant-garde. But the New York Times wouldn't.
The marginally positive review in "Check-in, Check-out," of the sleek and new Seeko'o Hotel uses most of its word count to list technical, um, difficulties, that were not addressed during the course of the reviewer's stay. Seth Sherwood writes:
My room, No. 101, a “junior suite” was really just a semispacious hotel room (for 180 euros). The “business center,” similarly, was a lone Internet-linked computer in the lobby. Moreover, the room smelled of cigarettes and looked out on a row of decrepit buildings.
We're working out of Madrid today, staying at the Hotel El Coloso. We're a bit hard-pressed to say anything good or bad about the room, the service or the location, mostly because we're so floored by the WiFi Fee: 17 euros, or $26, for 24-hours worth of access.
That's only if you want to surf the Internet and instant message people ("OMFG srsly? $26 for IM??!!?" is how we imagine those real-time chats will go.) But if you want to branch out and go wild with e-mail attachments, downloading files and opening a VPN? Well, that will cost you 22 euro ($34) for a mere 24 hours worth of surf time. Plus, this is a ticking clock, people--not one that deducts how much time you use in one sitting and then saves the rest for later.
To be fair, there is free WiFi in the lobby, which the seemingly embarrassed front desk clerk suggested we use when we inquired about Internet access. Perhaps we're just high maintenance, but when we have a day's worth of work to do, we want to be in the confines of our hotel room. And so we ponied up the Amex to the Internet provider, Swisscom.
We know upscale hotels have a penchant for ripping off guests when it comes to WiFi, but this hotel certainly isn't any Four Seasons. If you have a more horrendous story of WiFi extortion, share it with us in the comments. Don't be shy.
Yesterday we told you where you can get working WiFi in hotels for free so today we must tell you about the hotels where the WiFi is definitely not free, possibly not working and perhaps is not even WiFi.
Yes, it's time for the Worst WiFi Hotels of 2008. Much like our Best WiFi Hotels list, the Worst rounds up the usual suspects who charge you for internet access as well as calls out a few other hotel brands that manage to fly under our radar in other years.
These hotels also make this list for other reasons beyond billing. Inconsistent WiFi policies across different properties and brands is irksome, meaning you will get charged at one hotel in New York but not at the same brand in Miami. So is offering free WiFi in the lobbies but not in the rooms.
Yet what probably gets our goat the most is that these hotels are charging for WiFi purely for profit. We've even got a letter from a general manager of a Four Seasons hotel who tries to explain why the hotel must charge for internet. Essentially, the reasons why are all about profit except they are just hiding behind the pretense of customer service and network support.
Since we know that other hotels out there can provide complimentary WiFi, these hotels listed below really need to step it up.
Earlier this week we popped into an Atlanta Bread Company outlet for a quick lunch in Nashville, TN. The staff greeting was warm, the food was tasty, and signs prominently pointed out a nice feature: free WiFi.
Three people were pecking away on their laptops and the one sitting closest to us was staying at the nearby Loews Vanderbilt Plaza. "Here I buy a $7 lunch and check e-mail for free," the chatty business traveler noted. "If I log in at my hotel, where I'm already paying $230 a night to rent a room, they want me to cough up another $10 plus tax. It's insane."
Which brings us to this pair of screenshots we grabbed while staying at the Danubius Hotel Astoria in Budapest, Hungary. Here they actually rub it in your face that you have to pay more for the exact same service when you are at a fancier hotel.
It's about $23 for 24 hours if you're in one of their 3- or 4-star hotels--already a princely sum--but a jaw-dropping $45 if you staying in a 5-star hotel instead. For the exact same connection through the exact same 3rd-party service. That's a lot of goulash!
The Plaza has reopened and everyone is just wetting their pants over the fact that it's open again. Well, except the people who bought the apartments in there because it's apparently pretty empty on those floors.
And while many tourists want to check out the new digs, not everyone is going to be able to afford it. So they will have to settle for skulking around the public areas---something we will probably be doing pretty soon.
Anyways, what pulls at our chain (pardon our grandma's favorite expression) is this bit from a Cornell Hotel School university professor:
"When you hear $1,000 a night for a room it might seem like a lot, but in the end it's not about the price, it's about the experience," said Bill Carroll, a professor at Cornell University's School of Hotel Administration. "It's such a unique destination. It really is about the cachet." Carroll spent his honeymoon at The Plaza 41 years ago.
"It might seem like a lot"??? Um, Bill...it IS a lot of money. And from what we've read of the new Plaza, it doesn't seem worth it.
· Britney Spears: Can she just give up her parental rights now? The trainwreck claimed to be too sick for a deposition in a child custody case but went out later that night to the Four Seasons.
· Hotel WiFi Hell: Brother site Jaunted reports that the DIA airport blocks some websites and even more shockingly, HotelChatter is a blocked site at some Drury and Comfort Inns. Whatever, our Trapper Keeper is cooler than yours.
· Airport Hotels: Forbes has put together a list of the world's best. Not on the list? Yotels.
A couple of years back, London's Dorchester Hotel was the place to be seen--celebs galore trooped through the door and we even think that Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston split up there. But more recently it was the calling point for the UK Times newspaper's mystery guest, Cath Urquhart, who was surprisingly none too impressed with somewhere that was, after all, good enough for Jennifer.
Where did it go wrong for non-celebrity Cath? Prices are obviously a problem for anyone with a grip on reality. The raspberries that were served with her muesli at breakfast cost an additional £12.50 ($25) and use of the internet, a whopping £18.50 ($37) a day. It got worse when the room across from hers held a loud party until 3am, and sleep proved elusive. What's good at the Dorchester (apart from celeb-spotting opportunities)? Pretty good service, the rooms are comfortable (if not exactly stylishly exotic), and the food tastes good.
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven GRYZLYADMS had a disappointing experience at the Fairfield Inn near the Miami airport and thinks that parent company Marriott needs to whip this property into shape. Enjoy.]
I can't believe this is a Marriott branded property. No FI update has been done to these rooms and they are on par with a Red Roof Inn.
The carpet is torn in Rm 2144. I got in late on the 6th and went to bed, when I got back from a meeting on the 7th during daylight I saw "poop stains" all over the bottom of the bedspread. It was as if a person with a dirty butt sat at the end of the bed to watch tv.
I called housekeeping. I put the tv on and the remote wouldn't work so when the maid changed the spread, I asked for a working remote and she said she would have somebody do it and the time was 4pm. At 8pm I walked down to the front desk to do it myself because since it hadn't shown up. The lady at the desk said she didn't have any but someone would be up to my room shortly to exchange it. I went to bed at 11:30 pm and nobody came with the working remote.
[Ed. Note: Hotel Maven 
