Many hotels here in Ireland are now giving free internet access, and about time too! I REALLY object to paying anything to use the internet in a bedroom I have paid for. The cost of the bedroom more than covers the minimal cost to the hotel for my little use.

I would now go so far as to say that I tend to book hotels giving free access (all things being equal) and if more of us did this, the message would get through to hoteliers.

The highest I have paid was in Jurys in Ballsbridge, Dublin (no longer Jurys) and the card cost €20. It didn’t work! Of course, being like a Yorkshire man ( ), but a woman born in Scotland, and I believe there is a rather odd rumour that Scots can be tight, I complained. Loudly. So I got free access for the duration of my stay, That’s the way to do it. Further, every time I stayed after that I was given free access.

Finally, now when booking I always ask if they have broadband and if it is free for residents. We MUST ask this when booking to make sure the message gets through that it is a factor when booking.

Off topic, I also chose hotels with free parking. There’s another rant for you

Catherine

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One of the more irritating aspects of hotel internet access is the consistency with which it is offered.

I recently stayed in a hotel in Brussels which offered WiFi throughout the hotel – which was good. BUT – you had to pay for it in your room and it was free in the common areas, such as the hotel bar. One can only asssume that one way you pay for wifi and the other you pay for drinks – WiFi included.

Naturally, hotels are in business and need to make a profit to stay that way – but I’m paying for something else whether I pay for the WiFi or not.

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£16 for Wifi access – that is just a rip off. Obviously they cater more for business travellers with their expense accounts.

Maybe hotels could take a leaf from the low cost airlines and be more transparent with their prices, and unbundle some of the items. IE one cost for the room, one for breakfast, one for Wifi, one for TV etc

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Barcleona Ritz Hotel.

Someone will have to verify this but I was dealing with some conference organisers earlier this year who were planning a big event in Barcelona. They had a few of the top dogs staying in the Ritz. Whilst there they were also going to be using some of the meeting rooms in the business centre.

This is where the numbers are fuzzy but I think it was €42 per day for internet access in the rooms. To get access downstairs in the business centre was a separate charge of another €35. Same computer, same day, same building. Two charges.

Fantastic.

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£15 in Holiday Inns & Hilton per night is grand larceny.

The problem seems to be that they all outsourced their Wifi to an outfit called Ibahn (I think) and so no matter how much we complain there’s probably not a lot they can do about that until their contracts run ou.

But £15 a night when I can get a Vodafone card for £15 a month???? Don’t yank my chain…

When will they learn that we don’t like being taken for idiots?

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Oh yeah and I got 5 hours included in a hotel in Frankfurt last week, but the Wifi stopped working after I’d used 2 of them. AAAGHHH.

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passed through Vienna and had to stay at the airport hotel overnight, flight delays etc, and had no choice but to use the WIFI – cost €28.00. The hotel chains take advantage of having a captive audience. having said that however stayed in a Great Western Hotel in Piacensa, Italy and it was only €6.

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I completely agree with the article and earlier comments; some of the prices that hotels charge for Internet access are completely unreasonable. Clearly they will have made an investment in wiring the place up, and they will be paying quite a lot more to their ISP than the average home user.

Yet I can’t imagine that their network costs are any more than their TV costs (equipment, cable/satellite fees, etc), and basic use of that is universally provided to residents for no additional charge. Hotels typically make some extra income from their TV investment because some guests will pay extra for on-demand movies. There’s surely scope to do something similar with Internet access. The room rate could include a basic connection, equivalent to 1 or 2MB broadband and with a download limit of, say, 100MB per day, which would be enough for basic email and web browsing. If you want a faster connection, or greater download volume, you could pay to get an upgraded service. If the cost of that upgrade was in line with the price for the dirty movies, maybe €10 for 24 hours, I suspect a fair few people would pay it.

Personally I will always prefer a place that provides free connectivity. If they charge for it, I almost certainly won’t use it unless forced to. Depending on the hotel location and cellular coverage, a 3G dongle is frequently a very acceptable alternative, and can work out a whole lot cheaper.

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It’s not just hotels.
Some airports also have rip-off wi-fi services. A lot of it goes down to the fact that business customers are viewed as non price sensitive so the hotels pump up the prices.

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I paid the equivalent of £9 an hour for wifi access at the Sheraton in Luxor, Egypt. It was the first time I’d been on holiday on my own, and I felt the need to keep in almost constant contact with the world by internet. Needless to say, an expensive week-long holiday.

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I’m one of the sad sad people that have paid £16 in a hotel for wifi as well. Even worse, I’ve paid similar amounts in airports.

Last month in central london I stayed at the NH harrington, the Marriott Maida Vale, and the Millenium. They were all in the £10-£17 range. I was able to “borrow” wifi from somewhere at two of them, but had no other options at the other hotel. Even worse, there were two of us staying there and needed to work at the same time, so that was the cost EACH, not per room…the price was per computer!

Thats one of the reason why I try and stay at the lower tier products, Courtyard by Marriott, Holiday Inn Express, Hilton Garden Inn etc. Same room comforts as the regular brands, but more extras included.

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It can be an idea just to ask for a price reduction.
Hotels only charge so much because some people pay it (business people who don’t care about their employers costs I guess). I had to stay in a hotel for a long stay at the beginning of this year and was able to negotiate the price down from €10 a day to €5 a day.

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There is no easier way for a hotel to create some goodwill than offering free wi-fi. In the US many of the motel chains do it while offering great rates. And what’s the deal with some hotels offering it free in the lobby area and charging a rip-off price in the room? Presumably they like having the lobby filled with business folk swaying their laptops from side to side trying to get the best signal.
It follows no financial logic, but I would be more attracted to place with free wi-fi than an otherwise identical place that was £20 cheaper but charged £10 for access. Am I alone in this sentiment?

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Agree that some hotels charge ridiculous amounts for wifi / internet access

One thing to check out is whether the hotel has any special offers for preferred guests. We recently stayed at the Omni Chain in the USA and by signing up to their guest program (which was free) we were given free internet for the entire stay (saving $10+ per day)

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Hotels don’t charge guests for water, electricity or other utilities. Why should they charge for WiFi?

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I am on a month-long trip through Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Indonesia. Each stay was planned around hotels offering free wifi. I won’t stay at hotels that don’t.

So far quality has been very good. I’m in the backwoods of Central Java right now and speed is pretty good. However, wifi is one thing. Its much more difficult to avoid getting ripped off with phone calls. Its not always convenient or cheap to get a mobile for every country visited.

The worst rip-off on this trip was at the hotel in Bangkok. They offer free wifi, but they don’t advertise their phone rates. IDD calls cost me 474 Bhat per call (about 10 Euro). It adds up to a lot of money after a few calls. I won’t be staying there again. Some hotels seem to be really struggling and are trying to profit any way they can.

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Darren

I currently pay 45 pounds per month for broadband connection (light user). As a business I can not get access to the deals that home owners get, with business it the same with everything I could own a house 5 times the size of my current one for business rates I pay on a building half the size of my home. Everyone from goverment to telecoms see business as a easy target for money.

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Hey Darren,

As a fellow Yorkshireman, I too am reluctant to pay for internet access when I’m already paying out a fair amount for a hotel room – I was down in London for a conference this week and took my laptop hoping to do some work inbetween conference sessions and socialising – however once there I found it was £3 per hour or £15 for 24 hours internet access and yes it wasn’t wireless afterall, I would have had to plug in a cable (despite WiFi being mentioned on the website).

In the end, I just didn’t bother and then it’s taken me 3 days to get caught up with things again – these days, if something mentions having WiFi (as a selling point of what they offer) – I assume without thinkiung that – one, it is infact wireless and two, it is actually free access!

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I feel that I have to comment on most peoples complete ignorance with regards to wifi, wifi installation and ongoing maintenance costs.

“I can get wifi at home for £7 a month” ive heard some say. Good for you, you aren’t a business, what about your telephone line rental costs? You will NEVER get a business broadband connection and line rental costs for that kind of price. Your line rental is more than double that alone. No doubt you have got a cheap and nasty router from your ISP to go with that as well, with the same one, maybe two computers running off it. You think that is going to work on a grand scale with potentially tens/hundreds of users logging on and off during 24 hours? Dont make me laugh.

Industrial routers come with a price tag approaching four figures and rise, at least twice the price of an average computer for petes sake! But then again, you’re not likely to know that after popping down to your nearest PC World, are you? Decent access points have a price point of £300+. Unfortunately these products don’t come with lifetime guarantees either. If your computer comes with a lifetime guarantee then let me know where you bought it and I will shop there from now on.

Depending on build quality of hotel (old thick walls, various annexes, seperate ajoining buildings etc), a wifi system can cost up to tens of thousands of pounds in equipment alone. Then there is the challenging installation procedure depending on building structure. And then you need to get electrical power to these access points. Oh yes, more installation costs courtesy of a qualified electrician. Power over Ethernet is an option but why bother going wireless when you have to run ethernet cable all over the place, defeats the purpose somewhat. Those complaining of poor signal/quality are likely to be in hotels using cheap and nasty products or insufficient access points. Take the issue up with management.

“But £15 a night when I can get a Vodafone card for £15 a month???? Don’t yank my chain…”

Fine, if your living within 3G coverage, if not then there is only one company yanking one’s chain….and it begins with a V. Have you ever tried sending a photo over 2G? No obviously not by the sounds of things. Dial-up would give it a good run for its money.

Ever had to turn off your router at the wall and reboot because the signal has jammed up with two pcs running on it? Oh yes, of course you have. Well WIFI maintenance is not something that takes care of itself either you all should know, especially if dealing with multiple users, multiple devices, multiple operating systems, multiple muppets. Clowns running around offering FREE PUBLIC WIFI after trying to logon onto some hucksters access point clone. These same clowns coming onto our sites, jamming up routers and suckering other cheapskate clowns onto their FREE PUBLIC WIFI virus, causing more problems. Oh yes, you lot really know what you are talking about, dont you.

Another thing you have to deal with is idiotic ISPs who decide to send information down your telephone line when you’re not looking and try to update your devices which, when you’re not using their products becomes a major issue.

Im not sure why everyone expects FREE wifi. Do you get free wifi at home? Oh yes I forgot, a lot of clever ISPs fool you into thinking that you pay for your broadband but get your wifi free. There is no such thing as free wifi (its all built into the price) and why should it be free anyway. This world is full of free loaders who expect everything for free………exept themselves. Are you guys working for free? Would you do a job for me for free? If so, drop me a line, I woud love you to work for my company.

If you want free wifi, then hunt it out before you go and stop bitchin about it when you get back home. After all, with your free wifi at home, theres no EXCUSE!

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As hotel owner looking at most of the comments on here make me laugh.
Just as Willie mentioned above.
You lot want everything for nothing and if you don’t get it you stamp your feet.
I just hope you never try took book my hotel as you guys are the sort of customers I wouldn’t want.
I sell wi-fi for as little as £12 for a 1 month usage at the hotel. The reason I charge for this is because of the cost of equipment (which doesn’t last for ever) and for support back up on the system that I get charged for yearly.
When the equipment becomes cheaper then i would consider free Wi-Fi.
For the non business owners who commented. It’s simple economics. When you have your own business then come on here and your comments would be taken more seriously.

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Hi Darren,
I may be a hotel owner but isn’t everyone a consumer of some sorts.
Cost of the equipment starts from £2000 upwards depending on how big a network you need.
The average initial spend is between £10.000 and £15.000
I would admit though that £20 per night for wireless is taking the micky.
But I have been slagged off on reviews for charging £12 per a month.
Where does it end?

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Hi Darren,
Wi-Fi for 1 night would cost from as little as 99p per day. Also I would like to add that the reason some hotels have bad connections is down to the isp’s.
Since we had wi-fi installed last year we have gone through 4 different companies.
It is an absolute mine field out there as so many companies that offer wireless solutions but they either go out of business or they don’t deliver what they promised.
The wireless industry is a shambles a the moment because everyone wants free internet and that these companies can’t make any revenue.
Reading Catherine’s comments at the top gave me a real chuckle. In Catherine’s world everything should be free and nobody pays for anything. I doubt that would be a great world to live. I think she needs a lesson in commerce and the real world.

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There was a fire at my house, and I’m stuck living in a hotel near Vancouver, BC Canada for the next three months while the place is restored. I work at home and require a working Internet connection.

The connection here is free, but extremely crummy. I’m lucky if I can stay connected for more than 10 minutes.

Would rather pay a modest fee than have to deal with having almost no connection at all.

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As a person who works in a hotel it always baffles me when guests complain about internet and phone charges. Do your research BEFORE you stay at a hotel and if internet is an “absolute” for you, stay somewhere else if the hotel you’re looking at charges a fee. Complaining to the agent during check out is not the time nor the place to do so. In fact, in our hotel we offer a free internet cafe as well as free internet in the lobby so I have no sympathy for guests who get aggrevated at the “in-room” internet fees.

Not only that but phone charges, while highly expensive are indeed outrageous in ANY (nice) hotel you stay in. I love the line “I stay all over the world and I’ve never seen prices this high.” Somehow, I highly doubt that you travel that much then if a high hotel telephone bill shocks you. And no…I cannot pre-warn you how much calling Timbucktoo at a peak time will cost you. What most people don’t know is that hotels mark up the phone carges by about 40-50 percent. On placards in the rooms it usually states about 110 percent or more. That’s because YOU pay 100 percent of the connection fee (regardless of whether you used an operator), peak or off peak rates, city/state/county taxes & additional FCC rates as well. THEN, the hotel adds a fee on top of that full 100 percent. So yes, a 1 minute phone call can cost you $20 – don’t be shell shocked, do your homework.

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mismicdar: That doesn’t fly. At all.

The least that can be done is to give warning to users on phone costs. Even notoriously sneaky telcos will warn you if your data rate might be more than what the average reasonable person would suspect.

“Doing our homework” isn’t exactly an option when you’re 1. busy, 2. without Internet access, and 3. not at home.

About using Internet access in the lobby — yeah right. For various reasons, a lot of people stay at hotels for more than just a few days. You expect us to loiter in the lobby every time we need to do our work?

And no, a lot of us don’t travel much. What, you only want to work with customers that are expert travelers?

Finally, if you’re going to advertise free in-room Internet, you better make sure it works. Advertising free Internet service in-room and then providing Internet service that’s useless for all intents and purposes because it’s so poorly maintained is tantamount to false advertising.

Either make us pay the fair price for usable Internet or don’t even claim to provide Internet access in the first place.

No one is asking for your sympathy. Don’t be silly. We’re asking for fair business.

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I have recently stayed at the Jury’s Inn Exeter where they were asking £120 for 24 hours wireless access!!! Would like know how they can justify that. Cheapest available there was £10 for 24 which still works out at £70 for the week while Travelodge will charge you £20 for the same period and the room rates are cheaper as well. Search as I might could find no reference to the high Internet connection charges in the advertising before this hotel was booked so will not be returning if I can help it.

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To confirm WI FI accessin the hotel is charged at £5 per hour while wired access has a daily rate of £10.

Hope that clarifies it for you

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This is rather a late comment. I own holiday flats and put in free wi fi service. I am now thinking of charging extra for it. Not because I want the extra money but because people are so nasty if it isn’t working for any number of reasons. Not being a hotel I am not at hand 24 hours per day but I am called in the middle of the night if the wi fi stops working. I have had a row with a woman in one flat who claims ‘It is not my problem’ if the wi fi stops working and that I should rush out – about 4 miles away to re connect it or whatever else. it is out of proportion for what should be an extra service and is not an essential like water or heating.

It is becoming a nightmare for me. If there is a charge I can just knock it off if it isnt working and this may be the reason hotels charge. People dont appreciate anything free.

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