I’m currently in the Intercontinental Hotel in Prague. Up until an hour ago I was staying in the Hotel Praha, also in Prague.
Both hotels are 5 star.
But while the Hotel Praha offers free internet access throughout the building via wifi and good speeds via ethernet in your bedroom, the Intercontinental is charging me an arm and a leg for a service that they advertise as being 3 Mb/s.
In Brussels the Hilton City not only charges premium rates for internet access, but also imposed a cap on uploads!
I travel quite a bit for business. Once I leave Prague I’ll be heading back to Brussels for another event and again I’ll be hit with a disproportionately high bill for using internet access in my hotel room.
It’s 2010.
Internet access in a hotel bedroom is not a “premium” service. For any hotel that expects to attract business travellers internet access is a very basic requirement. In 2010 I’d almost see internet access for a business traveller as being on a par with clean sheets and running water.
So why on earth are so many hotels charging such high rates for it?
It’s not as if they’re charging incredibly low rates for the rooms and have to compensate with the “extras”.
And of course I know that ranting about it probably won’t change anything, but it feels good to get it “off my chest”.
I agree totally and I could rant for two hours about this! I stayed in a hotel in Bristol a few months back and you had to pay for internet in the room. The options were ridiculous – £5 for half an hour or something. I complained at reception and was told that internet is available for guests who’d like it but that not everyone does therefore the hotel charges. I expect internet connection/WiFi in hotels these days and think that hotels looking to be competitive and attract guests in a recession should view internet access as an essential service.
Hi Michele,
I totally agree that for hotels that cater to business travelers the internet should be a free of charge service.
I would not mind if they limit upload and/or download somewhat, but getting emails, chatting with icq/msn and surfing the web should be included in the price.
Have a good trip!
Arno Vis
When I was in saying in Best Western Academy Plaza for the Bill Bailey gig last week, it had nice fast *free* WiFi. Sure, that’s a four-star hotel (though the midweek price was quite reasonable), but in this day and age, it’s not unreasonable to expect it.
The fact that they’re charging you so much makes their parent company’s claims laughable: http://www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=16
So so true. In the late 90’s I looked to set up a B&B for business travellers and one of the things on the top of my list was free Internet access. Hotels just appear to think well they will need it so lets take them for every penny we can get … easy money 🙂