Hotels with Free Internet access

JohnW wrote:
Last year when we toured Texas we mainly stayed at Holiday Inn
Expresses. One of the main reasons was that they all guarantee a Wi-Fi
signal in all the rooms and, perhaps more importantly, they don't charge
an additional fee. We're up north this year (Illinios, Michigan and
neighbouring states and would like a bit more choice as to where to
stay. One thing that I won't do is to book a hotel that proudly boasts
facilities on their website and says that there is an extra charge to
use them without saying what the charge is. So, are there any other
chains (regional or otherwise) that have free wi-fi, I don't mind
plugging in a cable though!

La Quinta and Best Western have it at every property in the U.S..

I stayed in Manhattan at Best Western Seaport Inn earlier this year.
Probably one of the few Manhattan hotels with free wireless, as well as
large rooms and free breakfast, including Dunkin' Donuts.

On Aug 1, 10:25*pm, " wrote:
On Jul 31, 10:40*am, "JohnW"
wrote: * * * * * *So, are there any other chains (regional or otherwise) that have
free wi-fi, I don't mind plugging in a cable though!

There was an article in the Wall Street Journal a few months ago.
Their observation was that the cheaper the hotel/motel, the more
likely it was to include internet access at no additional charge.
They concluded that the guests at the more expensive hotels were more
likely to be travelling on business and could get their employers to
pay the additional charges.

It varies. I've stayed in Hilton properties that did have free
internet access. Once I accidentally pulled out the retractable
ethernet cable too far. I called in and it was replaced quickly (I
think it's happened before). Many of the high-priced hotels do charge
more on top of it. I remember one place I stayed in Hawaii it was
maybe $10, but they also had some terminals in the lobby for guests to
use for free. However - half of them weren't working, and people
using them stayed well over the alleged 15 minute limit.

I've been to a few places that split the difference. You can get 768
kbit/sec service at no extra charge, but can pay extra to get faster
data rates (like 5 mbit/sec). That was my experience at one
particular Holiday Inn. I've also been to others where the service
was complimentary and the access was very fast.

I typically bring along an older notebook computer with a modem. If
there's free local phone service and I can find a local number (I
actually stayed at a place where I couldn't find a local Earthlink
access number) I'll use my monthly dial-up access allotment.

I've been to a lot of motels where there was free complimentary
access, but it wasn't that fast. They were also open networks that
didn't require any kind of password or login. Motel 6 has sort of
gone halfway. You sort of expect that they'll charge for internet
access, but it's at the low end at $2.99/day. For that price they
might be able to justify faster data rates. Seems reasonable to me
considering that I've been charged from $10-12 a day at some hotels.

One of the more generous deals I've seen was at a recent visit to
Yosemite National Park. They have free internet access for guests at
the Ahwahnee Hotel and Yosemite Lodge. At the Ahwahnee it's guests
only; I suppose they don't want their waiting areas crowded with non-
guests. At Yosemite Lodge there is the possibility of purchasing 7
days and up to 7 "logins" for $5.95 for non-guests. It seemed rather
interesting. I got an access number and once my computer was
recognized it stayed recognized. The access numbers were from a list,
and were then crossed out after being distributed. Guests and non-
guest were given numbers from the same list.

On Aug 3, 2:39*pm, y_p_w wrote:
Many Hilton owned properties have free internet access, but it
varies. *The Las Vegas Hilton doesn't.
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Yeah, it's weird that the more you pay the less you get. For example
with the Hilton chain:
Hampton Inns (their value brand): Free parking, free breakfast, free
internet
Hilton Garden Inns (their mid-tier brand): free parking, no free
breakfast, (I don't know about internet)
Hiltons (their top of the line brand): no free parking, no free
breakfast, no free interrnet.

And Hilton isn't the only one. Marriott and other chains often charge
for things at their flagship premium brand that you get for free at
their value brand. It's counterintuitive. If you pay more you should
get more. Yeah you get a nicer lobby, ballrooms, and meeting rooms, a
concierge, etc. but why does breakfast, parking, and internet suddenly
drop off the list when you pay more? I'd rather have free internet
rather than a ballroom which I'm not going to use anyway. So I stick
to the value brands.

ImageAnalyst wrote:

And Hilton isn't the only one. Marriott and other chains often charge
for things at their flagship premium brand that you get for free at
their value brand.

The more expensive hotels are catering to business customers whose
companies are willing to pay for Internet access. It's the same way in
Asia. The fancier places all charge for Internet access, often a lot,
while the cheaper places have it for free or for a low charge.

On Aug 3, 4:37*pm, SMS wrote:
ImageAnalyst wrote:
And Hilton isn't the only one. *Marriott and other chains often charge
for things at their flagship premium brand that you get for free at
their value brand.

The more expensive hotels are catering to business customers whose
companies are willing to pay for Internet access. It's the same way in
Asia. The fancier places all charge for Internet access, often a lot,
while the cheaper places have it for free or for a low charge.

Seems almost random sometimes. Take for instance the the fully named
Hilton locations in San Francisco like the Hilton San Francisco
Financial District (used to be known as the Chinatown Holiday Inn).
Once I was thinking of staying in San Francisco overnight and looked
up the hotel. With their name they obviously are catering to business
customers, but they also have complimentary internet access for
guests. The other two Hilton locations in San Francisco (Fisherman's
Wharf and Union Square) charge a fee for internet access.

http://www1.hilton.com/en_US/hi/hote...ornia/index.do

" Within the Hilton San Francisco Financial District hotel, you will
receive complimentary wireless high-speed Internet, access to our 24-
hour business center, and guest rooms outfitted with oversized work
desks, ergonomic chairs and laptop-size safes."

"ImageAnalyst" wrote in message
...
On Aug 3, 2:39 pm, y_p_w wrote:
Many Hilton owned properties have free internet access, but it
varies. The Las Vegas Hilton doesn't.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, it's weird that the more you pay the less you get. For example
with the Hilton chain:
Hampton Inns (their value brand): Free parking, free breakfast, free
internet
Hilton Garden Inns (their mid-tier brand): free parking, no free
breakfast, (I don't know about internet)
Hiltons (their top of the line brand): no free parking, no free
breakfast, no free interrnet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The parking charge is almost certainly based upon whether the hotel is in
the centre of a city (or other space premium location). This is much more
likely to apply to the premium brands with the "value" brands usually being
in the out of the way locations.

tim

tim..... wrote:
"ImageAnalyst" wrote in message
...
On Aug 3, 2:39 pm, y_p_w wrote:
Many Hilton owned properties have free internet access, but it
varies. The Las Vegas Hilton doesn't.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Yeah, it's weird that the more you pay the less you get. For example
with the Hilton chain:
Hampton Inns (their value brand): Free parking, free breakfast, free
internet
Hilton Garden Inns (their mid-tier brand): free parking, no free
breakfast, (I don't know about internet)
Hiltons (their top of the line brand): no free parking, no free
breakfast, no free interrnet.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The parking charge is almost certainly based upon whether the hotel is in
the centre of a city (or other space premium location). This is much more
likely to apply to the premium brands with the "value" brands usually being
in the out of the way locations.

This is true. Even the value brands charge for parking in places like
Manhattan.