Nice hotels that charge you for internet access

Discussion in 'Esther's Follies' started by Jive_Turkey, Jan 10, 2008.

  1. Jive_Turkey

    Jive_Turkey 1,000+ Posts

    Am I missing something here?

    When I travel for work, I stay at some nice hotels. I'll stay at the Westin Century City or the Ritz in SF, and occasionally I'll stay at a W when vacationing. Besides being expensive rooms, these hotels also have something else in common: they charge you between $12-15 a day for internet access. And yet, when I travel to smaller towns and stay at a Holiday Inn Express or Hampton Inn, it's always free wireless internet access.

    Is it that much more expensive to wire a big *** deluxe hotel than a small motel? Or is the expensive hotel just trying to nickel and dime you for more money? I don't know the answer. But you'd think if you were paying $300 a night for a room, they'd give you free internet access.

    End of rant.
     
  2. El Sapo

    El Sapo Bevo's BFF

    I bet you're the kind of guy who would demand a meal on a trans-Atlantic flight too. Some people are never satisfied. [​IMG]
     
  3. Real_Texas

    Real_Texas 25+ Posts

    I work for a large hote/casinol company and our high-end hotels all have free wifi while the cheaper ones do not. Hell, even at one of our lower end properties I could get free wifi from our higher end place next door.

    I have no idea why we, as a company do this. [​IMG]
     
  4. Xminus6

    Xminus6 500+ Posts

    i don't get it either. i stayed at a small hotel in a small town in turkey and they tried to supply free wireless yet the grand hyatt in san francisco charges you $10/day. i guess people pay it. i did. so why give up that income?
     
  5. Fetoid

    Fetoid 25+ Posts

    Yeah, this is a major new pet peeve of mine. I'm currently traveling to a lot of cities for job interviews, staying at a whole variety of places and the trend is truly there. I was just staying at The Inn at Penn, in Phili...really nice place, but they charge for access, while Holiday Inn/Comfort Inn. etc does not....it adds such a tacky bit to what otherwise in such a nice place. Do they realize whow cheap they make themselves look?
     
  6. Macanudo

    Macanudo 2,500+ Posts

    Pet peeve for me too. The Sheraton in Anchorage charged $10+ a day for internet service but the Fairfield Inn (Marriott property) did not. Hell, I've stayed at motels in the Yukon that had free internet. It's bogus just like the $20 a day the "nice" hotels charge to park.
     
  7. SAChick

    SAChick 500+ Posts

    Yeah when I go to San Diego for work and stay at the Manchester or Vegas at the Paris they charge daily for internet access. Work is paying but you would think 300 a room would cover internet access. Then I see all these signs for free wi-fi at these motels.

    Also why charge 25 a day for the gym? That's more than my monthly dues at Gold's.
     
  8. UTinBigD

    UTinBigD 250+ Posts


     
  9. jimmyjazz

    jimmyjazz 2,500+ Posts

    We stayed at the Marriott at Legacy Town Center in Plano a few months ago, and they charged for wifi as well. I was puzzled, for the same reasons you are, but the hotel was such an extreme value that even paying for wifi didn't bring it anywhere close to "expensive". (I'd say it's roughly in the class of the Four Seasons in Austin, and we paid $129 for a room with two queen beds.)

    OK, it's not QUITE as nice as the Four Seasons, but it's still nice.
     
  10. MilkmanDan

    MilkmanDan 1,000+ Posts

    My usual place in the DC area just upgraded from Holiday Inn to Crowne Plaza.

    When it was Holiday Inn, they had free wireless and wired access. Now it's only free in the lobby and bar. ********.
     
  11. PacSER

    PacSER 500+ Posts

    Better yet for business meetings:

    The Gunter in SA has free wireless in the entire hotel EXCEPT the business conference rooms. To get internet in there you must pay a contractor $1200 a day. That's just ********.

    The Galvez in Galveston charges for Internet, $9.99.
     
  12. MizzouSnives

    MizzouSnives 500+ Posts

    yeah, this is a huge pet peeve for me too. when i travel for business, it's not such a big deal, because i'm just expensing it anyway, but when i travel for vacation, it really sucks.

    i assume that more people travel for business, so that's why they do it. it's still tacky. it's not like people don't know the value of internet service. it costs what, $15-25 a month for service? and i'm supposed to pay $15 for 24 hours, along with 100 other people? f**k that.
     
  13. Orangeblood

    Orangeblood 1,000+ Posts

    PacSER,

    What about using an Apple airport? Can you plug it in close enough for you to get the signal from the airport unit, but far enough that it gets the hotel signal?

    And trust me, I feel the same way about why the higher end hotels in a chain (Hilton, Westin, etc.) charge for service, but their economy lines with the same damn chains (Hampton, Hilton Garden, etc) have it for free. Always seemed like it should be the other way around.
     
  14. Staley

    Staley 100+ Posts

    I was in NYC right before Christmas and had the same thing happen to me. $17.99 a day for internet. Luckily I dug around in my bag and found that I had a Sprint aircard with me. I ended up with faster service using the aircard anyway.
     
  15. UTEE

    UTEE 1,000+ Posts

    It's already been brought up, but the anwser of course in a Free Market is that they are charging this because they can.

    For business travelers who need the Internet access, the demand is relatively inelastic. Those hotels are competing in many other areas, but the price of Internet access is not one of them.

    On the other hand, the less expensive hotels are competing primarily on cost, and offering free Internet access is a way to reduce that cost to their customers.

    But as a frequent business traveler who still likes to save the company money when I can, I agree with the OP, and it seems really nickel-and-dime for these expensive hotels to charge me for it. When I have the choice, I often opt for less expensive hotels, and this is one of the reasons.
     
  16. mary21

    mary21 100+ Posts

    I was just in Austin and I paid $223 a night to stay at the Radisson. I then find out that parking is $15 a day to park IN THEIR parking garage, and $10 a day for internet. WTF?

    The $223 was for a bed and a shower........too bad I dont have a truck, I would have just thrown a mattress back there and it would have cost nothing,
     
  17. HornMafia

    HornMafia 100+ Posts

    It pisses me off, too.

    I hate paying the $9.95 at Starbucks or $6.95 at the airport, too.

    But I do because I'm a sucker.

    I'm beginning to think that the cellular cards are worth the money even if I only use them when I travel.
     
  18. Orangeblood

    Orangeblood 1,000+ Posts

    We have a guest room Mary.

    The wine cellar would be off limits though. [​IMG]
     
  19. mary21

    mary21 100+ Posts

    Thanks Orangeblood, but no worries about the wine cellar, however, had you said something about apple martinis being off limits, I would have been pissed. [​IMG]
     
  20. Benson32

    Benson32 1,000+ Posts

    just paid $10/day last week at the intercontinental chicago.

    good thing i didnt have to park a car there, because its $49/day.

    [​IMG]
     
  21. Victorious1

    Victorious1 250+ Posts

    I kind of feel the same way about free/not free internet access at airports.
     
  22. Statalyzer

    Statalyzer 10,000+ Posts


     
  23. atxbaby

    atxbaby 250+ Posts

    Yeah I think all La Quintas offer free internet access. But then I guess most biz travelers aren't staying at La Quintas. And the people who room at La Quinta probably don't own laptops, so why do they even offer free internet?
     
  24. El Sapo

    El Sapo Bevo's BFF


     
  25. atxbaby

    atxbaby 250+ Posts

    ////

    I don't get it. [​IMG]
     
  26. Lat22

    Lat22 1,000+ Posts

    Pay as you use.
     
  27. pmg

    pmg 1,000+ Posts

    I just drove to California and back over the holidays. Except for when I camped, (and even there at times) I stayed in cheap motels, never more than $49, in towns throughout the southwest and always had free hiigh-speed wireless internet.

    We hosted a conference here in Austin last year at the Hyatt--of course, they didn't have it.
     
  28. BrothaHorn

    BrothaHorn 1,000+ Posts

    This is just extra money for the hotels..this just takes the place of the money that long distance used to generate.
     
  29. Ahab

    Ahab 100+ Posts

    I rigged up my laptop to connect to the internet through my blackberry. As long as I can get a cell signal, no more hotel internet charges.
     
  30. Sangre Naranjada

    Sangre Naranjada 10,000+ Posts

    I think all the lower end hotels do it because their competition does it. They are targeting business travelers and so will provide internet, free breakfasts, etc.

    I also think the poster(s) who imagine business travelers only stay at high end hotels are dead wrong in that assumption. Those hotels tend to target convention-goers. It's a different segment of the business travel market. They'll host the convention in their gigantic rooms and put up as many of the attendees as possible. They'll have in house restaurants, bars, and posh lobbies for the convenience of the conventioneers. And those are the hotels that charge for parking, internet and everything else.

    I've stayed at both types, and frankly, I prefer the lower end hotels (Hampton, Homewood Suites, etc) when I'm working on an Air Force installation because the beds are still comfy and the little things I really need (like email access) are completely covered.
     

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