A recent Hotels.com survey has revealed some interesting results – ones that should interest hotel owners too and perhaps shape their planning in the future. The survey interviewed more than 8,600 individuals across 28 countries and asked about their feelings towards hotels offering free Wi-Fi. An astounding two-thirds answered that free Wi-Fi was the facility they most wanted all hotels to offer as standard.
Is it that surprising? In these times when we all want to “stay connected” and be able to go online, look at our email, check out the weather or perhaps watch a movie on our tablet, having the facility to do these things these days is expected, and people don’t want to have to pay for it. More people believe that it should be unlimited, free and constitute part of the overall price of a hotel booking.
Hotels Make Some Progress
Of course, from a hotel’s perspective there will be costs associated with setting up and maintaining Wi-Fi for their guests. But surely it should come as standard. The frustration of having to pay, or not have access at all is enough to make you consider your devices. You may even have to look for places that sell laptop dongles so that you can get reliable internet access.
Hotels, it would appear, have a long way to go still to meet our demands when it comes to Wi-Fi. Many of the big chains have decided to offer a kind of halfway house of a solution – Travelodge, for example, offers free Wi-Fi in the Bar Cafes. Unfortunately, these are only available in around a third of their properties. Going up the quality chain to the likes of the Hilton group and Marriott chain, there is still no reasonable offering. They both offer free Wi-Fi but only in the public spaces of their hotels.
Others hotels such as Premier Inn have decided that 30 minutes is the optimum time for us to be online, so offer free Wi-Fi for just that. Or could it be they want to catch us out and get us to pay for extra usage? Perhaps we should join the loyalty schemes and start collecting the points. Intercontinental Hotels Group, which includes big names such as Holiday Inn, Crowne Plaza and Holiday Inn Express are now offering some loyalty members free Wi-Fi worldwide. Initially, only those with Elite membership will qualify, but from later next year this will be extended to all – so it might be worth joining.
Upmarket Doesn’t Necessarily Offer You More
Conversely, it appears that the more upmarket chains seem to believe that their guests have the funds to pay for Wi-Fi. For example, the Hilton Manchester Deansgate charges an amazingly high £14.99 for 24 hours of access, whilst its cheaper sisters the Hilton Garden Inn chain or Hampton by Hilton have free internet access throughout their hotels.
For this reason, you should check before you actually book at any UK hotel that Wi-Fi is free and available throughout the premises. And if you find out it’s not, perhaps it’s time to show what you expect and find another hotel that does offer it to you. Look at good-quality independent hotels or B&B’s, as most offer free access and for the moment it’s a great USP for them.
