I’m heading across for a mixture of business and pleasure, so my laptop will be an obligatory accessory.
With that in mind I needed to find a hotel that offered wifi (or even wired) internet access. There are plenty of hotels in London with wifi, so that shouldn’t be an issue.
Unfortunately a lot of the hotels are charging rather high rates for using their wireless. If I were to stay 3 nights in some of the hotels and pay their internet levy I’d be adding quite a bit onto my bill.
Fortunately there are at least two hotel chains that actually cater for travellers like me.
Both the Best Western group of hotels and the Radisson group offer free wireless in their properties, so you won’t get any unpleasant surprises on checkout!
The thing that gets me is that the free wifi vs. paid wifi choice does not seem to be linked to the hotel’s star rating or nightly rate. It’s not as if you’re guaranteed to get wifi in a 4 star or unlikely to get it in a 1 star.
And the rates for the wireless internet access vary a lot. From my “shopping” this evening I’ve seen prices from as low as £1/hour to £14/hour. Is the £14/hour gold plated access or something? Doubtful!
Then again, it’s the same issue in Dublin.
If you are flying out of Dublin airport Bewley’s offers free internet access, but if you’re staying in some of the city centre hotels you can pay up to 30 euro a day (in one case we had to pay close to 100 euro!)
The Novotel near Heathrow also offers it. In case you are ever stuck at the Airport and want to book a place. It’s 4 pounds for the bus from the airport to the hotel and it’s on the other side of the M25 (i think that is the one). If you are staying, book online as their walk up rate is over 300% more !
paul
Have you taken a look at the Hoxton? It comes recommended to me from a couple of different people. I’m considering staying there when I travel to London next. They advertise free wifi. I can’t vouch for the quality of it, but it looks like a nice overall package.
Paul – thanks for that. I’ll keep it in mind
Alexia – Damn! That looks good and nicely located too.
If you do this a lot, Three’s USB broadband thingy can be used in the UK for free (bandwidth used comes out of your monthly allowance just like at home). It’s not generally amazingly fast, but it’s 20 euro a month, so not too expensive.
@ Alexia – that place looks deadly for the price, and close to the good stuff. The Hoxton Bar and Kitchen is great fun.
I’d recommend trying Centralr.com for accommodation though. I was in London last weekend and managed to get a room at the Millennium Mayfair for about a third of the normal rate (around 400 pounds a night per room) – http://www.millenniumhotels.co.uk/millenniummayfair/index.html
I also managed to get another decent place round Bayswater, and another round Paddington at various times over the past year so it’s pretty reliable for finding decent rates.
Also, you’ll be surprised at the amount of unsecured wifi networks you can cheekily use some bandwith from 😉
If you’re over there at lot, the £10 a month you’ll pay for a three mobile USB dongle thing might make sense http://threestore.three.co.uk/broadband/?id=1201
If I was in the UK more often the 3 option might be a runner, but I tend to go from one city / country to another 🙂
It drives me nuts when I have to pay for Wi-Fi in Hotels. Not all charge for them. I used to work for Quality Hotels & Comfort Inns Ireland (don’t work for them anymore ) and they don’t charge for Wi-Fi. Just a note on a comment saying you got a Hotel room for a 3rd of the normal price. Some websites claim this. Basically what this is the top price a Hotel will ever sell is called the RACK rate. This is sold very rarely and on really just on big occasions (Ryder cup etc) What some Hotel websites do is calculate the price you are paying £100 from the RACK £400 and say you are getting 75% off. As a Hotel person myself it is not a practice I like.