I should have taken a picture, as the story isn’t so good in words.
When I checked into a motel last week somewhere in the midwest of the USA they handed you a form to sign. They had used a highlighter pen to draw attention to a load of things like the times of the exercise room, that they had an honour system for buying snacks, etc.
Down the bottom was “International calls will be charged at $9.95 for the first minute, and $4.95 for all subsequent minutes”.
Then below…
“Free Wi-Fi is provided in all guest rooms.”
Need I say more?
Posted by Martin Geddes at 04:07 PMTrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.telepocalypse.net/cgi-sys/cgiwrap/mgeddes/MT/mt-tb.cgi/463.
It won't last long...
I mean the "Free WI-FI"
Patrizia
I believe exactly the opposite to Patrizia, the ratchet of business will mean more wi-fi availability in hotels. The genie is out of the bottle. As a regular business traveller, free wifi (preferably in-room) is a deciding factor in where I stay. For instance, when staying in Norway recently I opted for the executive rooms in the Radisson SAS chain because I knew I could stay connected. I don't have to pay a metered extra for the electricity I use or for the water I use. Why should I have to be metered for the bits I send?
As has been mentioned many times at the retail blog 137 Drury Lane (http://173drurylane.typepad.com/main/), "Retail is Detail", and in the world of travel, connectivity is now a big detail. Much bigger than the trouser press every room has but rarely used.
R.
Posted by: at May 5, 2005 12:19 PMI didn't say it would not be good, I just said in my opinion they are far from understanding that it could be a wonderful value added service.
It would cost very little and would make a huge difference for the customer.
What I say is that sometimes what you are not able to see is what is directly in front of your eyes...
Patrizia
http://www.woip.blogspot.com
Posted by: at May 7, 2005 04:55 PMFree WiFi tonight in my Cupertino hotel lobbby and free broadband in my room. It's factored into the room rate and is an amenity. The speeds are awesome. I bring along a Netgear travel router and the room is now WiFi...FREE
Posted by: at May 8, 2005 07:29 AM