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Story URL: http://www.silicon.com/research/specialreports/travel/0,3800011481,39163709,00.htm

Leader: Hotel wi-fi must be free
The campaign starts here...

By silicon.com

Published: Tuesday 31 October 2006

Why do hotels spend money on decor, particular linens, bowls of fruit in reception, chocolates on your pillow or fancy toiletries?

Of course it's because they want the repeat custom of their impressed and cosseted guests and there are fewer customers more in demand than the regular business traveller with his or her corporate Amex and a disinclination to skimp on hotel bills.

Among all of those trappings and trimmings there is room to cut costs. But many hotels realise the mantra of speculate to accumulate is true in their highly competitive business where a repeat visitor is gold.

And yet when it comes to something absolutely key to the business traveller – internet access – hotels have all taken their eyes off the ball, notwithstanding this very notable exception.

If your hotel is too expensive why not check out wi-fi access in one of London's many pubs.

Check out silicon.com's guide to the best London wi-fi-enabled boozers here.

And shame on us here in the UK. Research out this week shows London is the most expensive city in Europe for in-hotel wi-fi access (... and pretty much everything else we hear you shout).

We've said it before and we'll say it again - hotel internet access should be free. If a customer - or their company - is paying £250-upwards for a hotel room then £10 for an hour's internet access is just a slap in the face that, in the long run, will cost the hotel more than it earns them. (Let us know what you think on this issue by taking our latest poll.)

We also can't help thinking the excessive charges would be easier to live with if we didn't suspect they're really just being used to protect other revenues - principally ludicrous telephone charges and the pay-per-view adult channels - which somebody must watch - from the attrition of skype and internet porn.

One more openly expressed argument against free hotel web access is that customers must expect to pay because their subscriptions and hourly tariffs will be reinvested in making services better. That argument comes from no lesser a commentator than Luke Mellors, former CIO of The Dorchester - although Mellors does admit prices are still too high, while arguing that free simply isn't viable in the long term.

Of course we're not asking for the service to be free. We're asking for the hotel to put in place a model whereby it appears free, and to understand the economics at play so they don't simply bump up the room charges by a comparable amount.

After all, the apples in the lobby and the art on the walls - which are there to help foster customer loyalty - aren't free to eat or free to look at, they've been paid for many times over by the guests. So hotels need to realise what their customers want and start providing it.