Nice hotels that charge you for internet access

I think the answer is "because they can."

I'm almost exclusively a Marriott user. The actual Marriotts (and Renaissances) charge for Internet. But all the other Marriott brands, Courtyard, Residence Inn, etc. provide free internet.

I always figured that they probably charge at the Marriotts because a) these are "upper-end" guests who won't care that they're paying an extra $10/day, or b) the "upper-end" guests are primarily not those who use laptops, so they have to make-up the cost by charging those that do.

In Marriotts "lesser" brands - of which I frequent 90% of the time - as stated above, I think they use this as an enticement to the everyday business traveler trying to gain his/her business. Sorta like they charge for parking at the Marriotts but not at the Courtyards.

Hook'em!!!
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I'm at the Berkely in London - 275 GBP a night (corporate rate) - local calls are 2.50 GBP. the full english breakfast is 26 GBP.

Internet for 24 hrs is 20 GBP.

Is London out of control or what?

(Im not paying for any of this - no way would I)
 
funny, because i almost made this exact post about 3 months ago.

we had our energy drink tour from august thru november, and we abused priceline throughout, so pretty much every city where there was one, we were in a hyatt, hilton, omni, intercontinental. on the flipside, we were in some small towns, where the nicest thing there was a hampton inn / holiday inn express. same situation - nicer the place, more they charge.

in a way, it makes sense. nicer places charge more for pretty much everything - parking, food, drinks, whatever. but yeah, it's annoying.

and i don't think it has to do with having work pay for things. i doubt the intentions were that organized.

the thing that really sucked for us, was that we have a budget per month that we get for the tour, and what we don't spend, we keep. well, when the production mgr and i were both on the road, we would have separate rooms, and of course, that's $12.95 x 2. we might spend a few hundred a month extra on internet. good times.

also, it's amazing to me how many nice hotels, that have noticeably renovated recently their furniture, beds, linens, whatever, and yet still have ****** little 1987 zeniths. i can't belive phillips or someone wouldn't contribute a few thousand tvs to some nice chains.

oh well.
 
Some of you that have the Sprint or Verizon aircards, is it worth the money? The guy at Verizon quoted me like $39 a month, but if you go over a certain amount of data, then you get hit with a surcharge. Sounds a bit pricey to me. But maybe if you travel a lot and don't want to pay $15 a night for access, it might be worth it.
 
Another vote for the Verizon card. It used to be a hassle to get the hotel connections to work half the time.

Now, no problems, any time, anywhere (in the US, at least).
 
Charging extra for the Internet is like charging extra for electricity.

Someday every hotel room will come with a keyboard and free Internet access thru the TV screen, making laptops a thing of the past.
 
They do the same thing with the breakfast buffets. I also stay at a lot of Marriotts, and the Courtyards charge 8-12 for breakfast while Marriott itself charges like 22-25. Ridiculous.
 
I'll jump in again. My breakfast in Belgium is 21 Euro a day or close to 30 bucks. It's essentially a good continental breakfast with bacon and eggs. No pancakes or anything else American. I have no idea why they serve baked beans for breakfast though.
 
"also, it's amazing to me how many nice hotels, that have noticeably renovated recently their furniture, beds, linens, whatever, and yet still have ****** little 1987 zeniths. i can't belive phillips or someone wouldn't contribute a few thousand tvs to some nice chains. "

I was in Hampton Inn in Roanoke Virginia last month, This was an older Hampton, still had green bath tile and the door opened into the parking lot. I thought I was in a time warp until I saw the 32 inch LCD TV
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This used to bother me, but now I politely complain to the hotel manager and quote other comparable hotels that offer free Wifi. I stay in a hotel at least 3 days a week, so they like to keep my business. They comp the $9.95/wifi fee about 70% of the time, which suits me even when I'm expensing it. I generally stay at SPG hotels, Hyatts and Marriotts.
 
I think the Ho-Inn expresses, Quality/Comforts, and La Quintas of the world are in a more competitive market at sub 100/night. Lots of contractors, travelers, and road warriors who are on a much tighter budget than say your IBM consultant types. When you start getting into the 2-300/night, you're not nearly as competitive, and the Hotels aren't relying on room rental income so much as they are on convention room income. The big conventions will fill the rooms at the rate they want, and I believe that's a large portion of their revenues.

But I could be wrong.
 
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