Remember the bad old days when the best a hotel could provide for guest Internet access was a shared station in a musty business center?
With most properties now offering in-room Internet service, as well as hot spots in lobbies, cafés and other public spaces, those disconnected days are happily behind us.
But some properties still treat the Web as if it’s just another optional “amenity” to boost their bottom lines. A USA TODAY poll of 80 hotel chains last year found that four in 10 charged daily Internet access fees ranging from $9.95 to $14.95 at all or most of their U.S. properties.
Often, luxury hotels are the worst offenders. New York’s Four Seasons Hotel, for example, bills $15 a day for Internet access.
That’s why it was a pleasant surprise during a recent stay at the upscale Athenaeum Hotel in London’s tony Mayfair section to find out Internet service was included as part of the room rate.
The Athenaeum also didn’t charge for the mini bar’s stock of bottled water, soft drinks and snacks, nor did it tack on a fee for a cot for an unexpected extra guest. (Aside: Americans would do well to know that a “cot” in British English is a baby crib, a point of confusion that produced a big laugh from the front desk, when I inquired why a “crib” had been sent up. A switch was quickly orchestrated.)
Of course, with rates starting around $300 a night, you would hope a luxury hotel like the Athenaeum would include these “extras.” As the Four Seasons shows, that’s not always the case.
In fact, I’ve found it’s often smaller boutique hotels and less pricey chains that are more in tune with how integral an online connection is to their guests’ lives.
When I visited Madrid in November, I stayed at the Laura, part of the design-forward RoomMate chain, which has multiple locations in Spain, as well as properties in Miami Beach and New York. Although the room cost less than $200 a night, the Internet was gratis (as was an expansive buffet breakfast that conveniently was served until noon).
Even a more prosaic Sheraton in a Baltimore suburb where I spent a night in December to attend a funeral, provided free Wi-Fi in public areas and guest rooms.
If some hotels can view being wired as key to the guest experience, I don’t see why any property should do otherwise.
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