Why are we still paying for hotel Wi-Fi?

It’s no surprise that hotel guests these days expect Wi-Fi where they stay. Moreover, most guests believe Wi-Fi should be free and are frustrated when they find out they have to pay. Another common gripe of hotel guests is the inconsistency between hotels; for example the five star Hilton Mayfair in London charges $32 per day whereas the Four Seasons offers complementary Wi-Fi for basic use like e-mailing and surfing the web. Guests believe Wi-Fi should be free, especially in these luxury hotels. However, what they don’t understand is that when a hotel charges for Wi-Fi, they are guaranteeing reliability, high speed, and the highest level of security. Furthermore, guests these days are arriving at hotels with smartphones, tablets, and laptops in hand – all devices that require a lot of bandwidth. Hotels must constantly re-invest and adopt newer technologies to handle this increasing demand for bandwidth. This can be an expensive investment, and in order to keep up, they must find ways to cover these costs. To read more on this topic take a look at Ayesha Durgahee’s article “Why Are We Still Paying for Hotel Wi-Fi” here.