Business travelers on the brink of scoring free internet access

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Having to pay for internet access in hotels is nothing more than moronic. If the revenue is such a big deal, hotels should just slap the $9.99 — or whatever it is — onto the room rate and tell us they’re giving it away for nothing. But, nothing’s worse than spending $250 a night and having to pay another fee to connect to the web, which you’re going to have to do even if you’re on vacation, let alone traveling for business.

The slump in the travel business is giving business travelers more negotiating leverage, which they are using to score free access to the web. The need to put heads in beds, and business travelers still command the big budgets. Back in my corporate travel days, I’d spend $1,000 or more simply on the room … every week. Most leisure travelers don’t come near that on an annual basis — and my spend was modest compared to executives with the approval to satisfy more discriminating tastes.

So, you’d think hotels would want to keep business travelers happy, right? And since internet access is what’s most important to this group of hotel buyersSome upscale hotels, like the new Andaz chain from Hyatt, are rolling internet access into their rates, while major chains such as Hilton, Marriott and Starwood are giving in to business traveler demands but not changing their policies (to avoid setting a precedent they’ll be stuck with when the market recovers).

For the hotel business, giving up the internet money isn’t easy. The industry is at its 20-year low point, with revenue per available room-night (RevPAR) off 17 percent last year. The top properties suffered RevPAR declines of 24 percent. So, when Toni Hinterstoisser, general manager of the Andaz Wall Street, calls internet access charges “an easy way to make money,” it’s clear that the fee is a hard one to give up. Easy money is the best kind when the travel market is in the tank.

Free wi-fi in Times Square

by Katie Hammel on

It’s been quite the week for free wi-fi announcements. Airlines and airports seem to be offering it up like mad, to much thanks from travelers who need to stay connected. The latest hotspot for free wi-fi: New York’s Time Square.
Yahoo!, in cooperation with Times Square Alliance, is now offering free wi-fi in the pedestrian-only area of Times Square. Just get online and head to http://m.yahoo.com. Laptop users will see a welcome screen and can then select “Times Sq Free Wifi” to connect to the web (you can use any site to search the web, not just Yahoo!).

The contract for free wi-fi in the area will last at least one year, with the possibility of a three year extension.

Now, if only we could get hotels to take note. . . .

Travel annoyance #47: Paying for hotel Internet access has GOT to stop

by Scott Carmichael on

If you own a hotel, and you charge your guests for Internet access, then I’m going to go ahead and tell you that I hate you. I’ll make exceptions if you run a $10/night hostel, or if your hotel is located 50 miles from the middle of nowhere, and relies on satellite dishes to get online.

But anyone with a run of the mill hotel that still charges guests for access deserves to be ridiculed and mocked.

Paying for access was annoying back in 1999, but it was understandable – the investments were pretty steep, and the cost of the actual access was quite considerable. But now most hotels have earned that investment back, and wholesale Internet access costs have plummeted, there is no excuse to use Internet access as a money maker.

Take for example the Four Seasons “The Biltmore” in Santa Barbara. This hotel is one of the nicest in the country, and is a regular location for celebrities who want to get away from the busy LA area.

A standard room at the Four Seasons costs around $580/night. This gets you a room about the size of a normal Hilton or Sheraton room, with a couple of decent amenities. But those amenities do not include free Internet access. Instead, the Four Seasons has outsourced its Internet access to Wayport (an AT&T company), and expects you to pay $10 for 24 hours of access.

Now, we can debate the issue of people who can already afford the Four Seasons, but it is a matter of principle. Paying for Internet access is just wrong, and asking customers to pay for Internet access at a $580/night hotel borders on criminal. Internet access should be a standard amenity at any decent hotel. Charging for Internet access is like making the hotel elevator coin operated.

The odd situation in the hotel world is that the cheaper the chain, the more likely you will be to find free Internet access. It makes no sense that a $60 Holiday Inn can afford to provide free access, but the Four Seasons can not. So, if you own a hotel and you still charge for access, stop it right now. Please.

On Southwest, the internet’s no longer free

by Tom Johansmeyer on

Starting tomorrow, Southwest Airlines is going to start charging for internet access on four of its planes. The fees will range from $2 to $12, based on how long you’re in the sky and how you connect. For the past few months, access has been free, but the lure of additional revenue must have been hard to resist.

Yep, another extra fee to add to the list …

Both Delta Airlines and American Airlines are planning to add internet access to more than 300 planes each, but they’re still in the early stages. The fee to connect can reach $12.95, though less on shorter flights or when you use a handheld device instead of a laptop. I tested out Delta’s offer on a flight from New York to Atlanta and had great results. If you’re looking to recapture a few hours of your professional life, the price is well worth it.

For once, there’s a fee well worth paying.

American Airlines announces in-flight wi-fi costs

by Justin Glow on

Our sister site Engadget is reporting that, when American Airlines debuts in-flight Wi-Fi, it will cost $10 for three hours or less, or $12.95 for longer flights. “Rollout,” they say, “will begin this summer on AA’s 767-200 jets before rolling out across its entire fleet.”

So what do you think?

Personally, I don’t think it’s too bad, as long as the connection is reliable. What I’d be worried about it is a slow, overcrowded link, where I’m paying $10 to browse the Internet at dial-up-or-less speeds. But if it’s fast, I can’t think of a better way to spend my time on a boring flight — and $10 really isn’t bad. I would have figured that the price would have been higher for a service specifically geared towards business travelers.

Speaking of business travelers, it would make sense if they offered some sort of monthly plan, where frequent fliers pay $100 a month to get them unlimited access on all of their flights. I don’t fly enough to take advantage of something like that, but if I did, I’d pay it.