Why Do Hotels Still Charge for Internet?

Maybe worth the investment, but as indelible stated, one could simply stay in a hotel that offered free internet/wireless.

And no, I don't think the hotel phone is more important than internet connectivity. Who the heck uses a hotel phone anymore? I thought most people did like I did and simply used a cell phone where the minutes are already paid for.

I used a hotel phone in Vegas for the first time in many years. I talked for about 5 minutes (more or less) and it cost me about $15. I couldn't get a cell phone signal in the room and chose not to walk outside for a better signal. Trust me, that won't happen again.

And no, I don't think the hotel phone is more important than internet connectivity.

Re-read what I said. I did not say 'hotel phone', I just said 'telephone'. That probably is more important than internet for most people. But, cell phones allow us the freedom to bring our own phone service with us.

Likewise, if internet service is that important to you, there are a number of options. You could bring your own service in the form of EVDO or other service from any of the major carriers. You could decide that internet is worth the price that the hotel charges and just pay it. Or, you could limit your hotel choices to only hotels that include it for free.

I am very connected when I am at home. If I travel for business and require a connection, I expense it. If I travel for pleasure, I generally do not bring my computer or handheld with me.

Why didn't you stay at the place where internet is free?

honestly I didn't stay where internet was free because my colleague traveling with me really wanted to stay at Embassy Suites, people will evidently pay the $10/night if they can get free drinks

honestly I didn't stay where internet was free because my colleague traveling with me really wanted to stay at Embassy Suites, people will evidently pay the $10/night if they can get free drinks.

I think that Starbucks still uses T-Mobile hotspots. So, they do charge for service, albeit less than the hotels do. But, there are certainly places like Panera Bread that always have free wi-fi.

You're complaining about only getting 1 Mbps?

Even 768 Kbps is fast if all you're doing is surfing the web and instant messaging.

If you want 15 Mbps down and 3 Mbps up, I'm afraid you're most likely going to have to pay for it.

Not fast enough for me dangit! Really the speed of that network isn't the issue, it's getting booted every 5 minutes or so that really grinds on me.

Yeah that can definitely be annoying, I agree with you there.

I'm looking at you Google, with your tragically inferior free WiFi network for all of Mountain View. Good luck connecting to that one with more than a 1Mbps speed. Get what you pay for I guess.

This is really news to me. Am I correct in understanding that you are complaining about something that you get for FREE, and it is not even that 56kbps Netzero dialup?

This is really entitlement mentality at the newest height. Impressive.

What is more impressive is your witty snap judgment, that not only makes you look superior, but a complete tool at the same time. It's easy to feel better about yourself by passing judgment on teh internets isn't it?

And yes, I am complaining about this network because it was hyped for years before its conception. Google promised quite a bit and to say they fell short of those promises would be a massive understatement. We are in the heart of Silicon Valley and this is the best we have to offer. Not very impressive. I admit my standards are somewhat high, but living in the technology capital of the country tends to do that.

The probability that a hotel will charge for access is inversely proportional to the price you will pay for the room.

Cheap hotels throw in free stuff to get people to stay there. Expensive hotels rely on brand identity and quality of the rooms. They don't need to throw in stuff for free.

Precisely! I came to this thread late, but I'm surprised it took so long for someone to point out the obvious. When you stay at a "high-end" hotel, in general you're there because you want that experience. You probably CHOSE your high-end hotel for it's specific list of amenities, ambiance, room quality, etc. The point is the have many many offerings that represent the value of the room they offer for the night. Free internet is usually not one of them. So if you're there, you're paying for the attentive staff, beautiful lobby, great pool, nice room, etc.

If you're staying at a motel 6, days inn, etc, you're probably there because you got a good rate and you just need a bed. It was probably just one of 100 other similar moderate hotels that you could have chosen, and there (probably) isn't much to differentiate the hotel you chose from any other hotel in that price range. So, over the last several years, most of those mid-range hotels started offering free wireless as a differentiator (of course, now that most of them have it, it's not really a differentiator anymore).

The linked article refers to a hotel right outside the main gate of disney(land? world?). That's their differentiator. People chose that hotel specifically (i.e. the demand for their rooms is higher versus other similarly priced / similarly featured hotels) because those people want to be X feet from the Disney entrance, therefore they have more latitude in charging more (they just choose to do it in a slightly contrived way - through fees instead of the room rate). I'm quite sure free internet access is not a "top" priority for most people who are looking for a hotel in that area. Having stayed at my share of cheap hotels right outside Disneyland, my key consideration is simply how far I have to walk to get to the ticket entrance gates, and whether the room is clean.

So, there's no voodoo here, and it's no surprise that the probability of finding free internet access is inversely proportional the value offering of the establishment (in general) - real or perceived.

I should stop typing, but Starbucks is another good example. Does you're local no-name coffee shop have free internet? Probably. Starbucks in America does not. You might argue that your local coffee shop have coffee that's just as tasty (or better) that Starbucks. But Starbucks has a huge value that your local shop doesn't - brand value (or brand equity, from the company's perspective). They can leverage their brand value and other values (soft cozy seats?) to attract loyal customers who come there specifically for those things. They're less price sensitive and probably willing to pay for "extras". The local coffee shop has to offer free internet to differentiate itself from the 100's of other non-Starbucks shops around, and attract people for whom the Starbucks brand or ambiance doesn't offer so much value.

Starbucks is, relatively speaking, just starting out in China (where I live). In Shanghai, most of the Starbucks DO offer free internet wireless? Why? Well, in my opinion it's because the Starbucks brand doesn't offer as much perceived value here, and the shops aren't quite as comfortable for many local folks here (the comfy chairs are still there, but guess what - you can't SMOKE in Starbucks, and there's very little tea on the menu and basically no hot food! These are all things that make it harder for Starbucks to compete here). So - they offer free internet, just like a mom-and-pop place, to try to differentiate and/or improve their value offering.