Resentment Flares Over Fees for Internet Access at Hotels E-Mail

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

I suspect most of us do not use the hotel phones but our cell phones djf

Begin forwarded message:

From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com>
Date: October 11, 2005 8:37:58 AM EDT
To: dave () farber net
Subject: Re: [IP] Resentment Flares Over Fees for Internet Access at  
Hotels E-Mail


I've been outraged for a long time at hotel fees for local telephone  
service, not to mention the hotel-selected long distance carrier.

The only differences I see between that and wireless access are (a)  
the hotels are currently incurring the costs of providing this  
access, (b) it's not required by as large a fraction of the hotel  
guests as telephone, (c) you can sometimes find wireless access free,  
and (d) the wireless charges are much higher.

I don't like paying wireless internet fees, but on balance I have  
more sympathy with the hotels over wireless fess than I do over  
landline telephone fees.  If there's enough unhappiness about  
wireless charges for a "backlash", why hasn't there been a backlash  
about the telephone charges any time in the last decade or two or three?

Mary Shaw


On 10/11/05, David Farber <dave () farber net> wrote: I stayed at the  
Inn at Penn and they wanted $9.99. I went to a free
site nearby. BTW they wanted L$9.99 at the $600/night Presidential
Suite (I asked not stayed).

Dave

http://select.nytimes.com/mem/tnt.html?emc=tnt&tntget=2005/10/11/
business/11road.html&tntemail1=y

Columns On the Road Resentment Flares Over Fees for Internet Access
at Hotels E-Mail This Printer-Friendly Reprints Save Article By JOE
SHARKEY Published: October 11, 2005 A COUPLE of weekends ago, I
stayed at a Hyatt Regency in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., while attending a
trade show.

...Out in Wisconsin, Tom Hill sympathized with me about being hit for
Internet service at four-star hotels when you can get it free at
lower-priced competitors, not to mention a growing number of public
places and, for that matter - as I noticed on my way home from the
trade show - the entire Fort Lauderdale International Airport.

...Evidently, it is one, judging from the heavy e-mail response to a
column on the subject two weeks ago. The backlash against charging
for Internet access, whether hard-wired or Wi-Fi, has been building
for years, especially among younger business travelers who have been
accustomed to free high-speed Internet access since college.

...Spira, the chief executive of the research company Basex, wrote
last year in a survey titled "Romancing the Road Warrior: The Case
for Free Internet Access."

...Some readers, like Tom Nobles, have found ways to avoid hotel
charges and tap into free Wi-Fi.  Recently, after brooding about
paying Internet access in a four-star Atlanta hotel, Mr. Nobles found
that he could get a free Wi-Fi signal on a trip to Chattanooga, Tenn.

"I sat in the parking lot of the Wingate Inn and did my work on my
laptop; also in the parking lot of a Panera Bread," he wrote.

...Rich Roberts, a Cendant spokesman, noted that Wingate also offers
a menu of other services that business travelers look for, like free
local phone calls and 24-hour business centers that do not charge for
a printout or a photocopy.

...Typically, you can log on free in midlevel brands like Hilton's
Garden Inn, Hampton Inn and Homewood Suites, and Marriott's
Courtyard, Residence Inn and Fairfield Inn properties.

..."My son, who is en route home from Europe as we speak, said they
charged $29 at some place for his Internet connection," said Sally
Traidman, who admits to having occasionally "walked over to a
Marriott Courtyard lobby" for free Wi-Fi use when faced with a hotel
charge.

..."The Hyatt Regency in Amman, Jordan: beautiful hotel, terrific
service - and free high-speed Internet."

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