VintageKrug - 22/02/2010 19:29 GMT
Starwood Preferred Guest (SPG), which includes the brands Sheraton, Westin and aloft has announced that Platinum members will get free internet at all properties as of 1st March.
More details here:
www.spgpromos.com/compnetaccess/index.cfm?language=en_us&EM=VTY_SPG_COMPNETACCESS_PROMOTION
Note that this benefit is only for Starwood booked stays and the benefit isn't for pre-paid bookings made via third parties. (e.g. Expedia etc. where you wouldn't - always - earn stay credit).
I think Sofitel and Intercontinental already does this for Platinum members.
A positive trend.
Radisson Blu (SAS that was) offers free internet access to all guests, in all categories of rooms, however the booking was made.
Hilton now charge an average of around EUR20 per 24 hours for internet access, often provided by a Swiss third party operator, and the quality is often slow, especially when using wireless.
And no, I don't work for Radisson, SAS or any other element of the travel industry.
travelwell - 23/02/2010 13:35 GMT
sure a very positive move but to be honest there are so many hotels and chains already offering this to all their guests for free, why SPG does not offer this across the board, as it certainly makes booking easier if you know you wont get charged the $20 or so a day (at least) for internet on some already expensive hotels.
as a SPG platinum member this is good but would be even better if they offered it to all their guests or just add $1 to the cost of each room booking that would more than cover it.
NTarrant - 23/02/2010 14:01 GMT
This is a good move in the right direction, I'm not at Starwood member or use their hotels but the fact they are doing it may spur others into providing it. Particularly as Radisson have done for a long time.
Hilton's £15.00 for 24 hours is well over the top, you don't always need as much as that. Hopefully this move will at least get them to provide free internet to HHonors members
flatbedfan - 23/02/2010 19:33 GMT
careful, VK you'll be accused of being from Starwood's PR Department ;)
I've been a Starwood member for years and welcome this, which follows from Sheraton's introduction of the "Link" facility where guests can access the internet for free from the hotel's computers. But my real complaint is that, in the 21st Century, surely internet access should be provided - at no charge - in all rooms, as an expected essential service. From my perspective, charging for internet access is akin to charging for watching TV or reading the in-room magazines.
VintageKrug - 24/02/2010 07:26 GMT
Good point JohnPhelan.
It would be interesting for BT to do a survey of internet charges globally, to understand which hotels charge the least (or are free) and shame those which are the most expensive.
Net access in hotels is becoming outdated, though.
Just as I would never pick up a hotel telephone to actually make a call since the advent of cheap and reliable mobile calls, nowadays unless it's free or I need increased bandwidth I will use my Internet Dongle in preference to being charged for access by the hotel.
dutchyankee - 24/02/2010 09:32 GMT
To be honest, the vast majority of global hotel chains charge for internet access. It will take only one of the majors (Marriott, Hilton, Sheraton, etc) to offer it free to all guests and for sure the others will follow. No one wants to be first of course as this is too positive a revenue stream for them. What I think is more the problem is Bandwidth. While a few years ago all you would want to do is check your emails, and for that the speed in most hotels worldwide is good, the requirements now-a-days of downloads, movies, and TV on line makes the situation difficult at best. The hotels are simply not set up with that level of bandwidth available to all guest rooms. I for one would still be happy to pay if I was able to get the same speed of connection I enjoy at home or at the office.
dutchyankee - 24/02/2010 09:34 GMT
By The Way, BT, I fully agree with VK, a survey would be great to compare the offerings by chains and brands.
This has been noted, and we'll bring it up at our next editorial meeting.
In the meantime (and by sheer co-incidence) I will be posting a couple of hotel internet-related stories later today, and will post links here when they are up.
Mark Caswell
Hi everyone - Shangri-la Hotels & Resorts has been offering free wi-fi in all its Shangri-La and Traders properties since early 2009. We reported it then: http://asia.businesstraveller.com/asia-pacific/news/wi-fi-all-you-want-at-shangri-la At the time, we thought the chain would set a trend, but apparently hasn't.
Interestingly, i've just discovered that Malmaison no longer offers unlimited free internet acess at its hotels. It had always been one of the few brands in the UK to do so, but according to its website, access is now only free for the first 30 minutes, then charged at £7.50 for 8 hours or £10 for 24 hours.
dutchyankee - 24/02/2010 11:09 GMT
There are plenty of smaller brands such as Shangri la that offer free internet, even Hilton Garden Inn offers it while the other Hilton Brands don't. Radisson is not anywhere near the scale of a Hilton or Marriott, so it really will take one of the big chains to make the change, once they do then everyone will follow. Starwood's move is a baby step in that direction, and it wouldn't be surprising to see Marriott and Hilton doing similarly in their frequent stay programs soon to keep pace.
Here is a piece about UK hotel group City Inn increasing the speed of the (free) wifi internet access at its six properties:
http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/city-inn-increases-speed-of-free-internet-access
VintageKrug - 24/02/2010 11:17 GMT
Actually, Malmaison/Hotel du Vin group did start charging, but you still get free net access if you are staying on a corporate rate, so it is effectively still free for business travellers.
PS it is rather confusing when we have multiple posts all from "Business Traveller"/"Site Administrator" on here; perhaps you could either use your own names with "BT Team" or have your names coloured in red or something....
Thanks for that clarification VintageKrug.
Confusion noted - to confirm, SiteAdministrator is the log in which Tom Otley uses, while BusinessTraveller is used by myself, and EditorialBusinessTravellerAP is used by our sister Asia Pacific website. But we'll look at making that clearer.
Mark Caswell
And here's a brief piece about Best Western introducing free internet access at its UK properties:
http://www.businesstraveller.com/news/best-western-offers-free-internet-access-at-uk-
fu2u2UK - 25/02/2010 08:57 GMT
Like many of you answers. I find that in China only the International hotel charge for internet conection. The Chinese hotels do not. So this not a offer
SimpleDXB - 25/02/2010 13:14 GMT
I always think it's a bloody outrage that hotels (esp 'business' hotels) charge for internet access. My standard operating procedure is object to the same and I find that 99% of the time hotels will comp the charge. It is a bloody cheek, and about time hotels stopped engaging in what is daylight bloody robbery. If I ever find myself in the position of being robbed (read having to pay for internet charges) then I will never use that hotel again - it is their choice to engage in this fools economy in ripping off their highest spending customers.
I am a Platinum SPG member, and whilst I agree this is a postive trend for others to follow, it begs the question why all Gold/Platinum members don't already receive free internet, given they are almost certainly all business travellers...
