Wi-Fi, why so high?
In poll after poll, guests are consistently showing that Wi-Fi service is the most important factor in determining whether they a) book a hotel or b) rate their stay highly.
In 2015, the cost of not providing free and high quality Wi-Fi is simply too high. Most hotels charge for Wi-Fi; and if it’s free, there is always a catch: Wi-Fi running at 756Kbps per minute, having to be reconfigured every hour, failing randomly and consistently, only available to rewards club members – the list of ‘free’ hotel Wi-Fi dramas is endless.
When people travel, whatever the purpose, they rely on the internet to keep in touch with their clients, colleagues and, most importantly, loved ones. To travellers, Wi-Fi is a service as basic as bathrobes and body wash.
A recent poll by booking site Hotels.com found that free and high quality Wi-Fi were the most important in-room amenities to hotel guests.
And lest we think that it’s only low-income or young guests who demand decent Wi-Fi - Resonance, tourism industry consultancy firm, found in a recent poll that guests worth $1 million rated free Wi-Fi as the amenity most important to them when booking a hotel.
IHG polled 10,000 business travellers and found that a free internet connection was the most important feature of the room. The results found 60 percent of respondents said free Wi-Fi was tops, with the next highest response being TV (only 17 percent of respondents).
Braun Research also recently released a report wherein poll respondents rated free and high quality Wi-Fi as a more important in-room amenity than TV or even coffee.
Most hotels haven’t caught on to this, or are stubbornly refusing to acknowledge it. Yet cutting corners on connectivity for guests simply will not keep customers coming.
Marriot is allowing its rewards club members to access free Wi-Fi, but was also recently caught red-handed blocking guests’ use of their own personal hotspots.
Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts began offering free Wi-Fi at its 78 properties in 2009 and now has gone a brilliant step further: giving guests free internet access in all of the hotel’s limousines.
“Connectivity is a vital part of the Shangri-La experience, and complimentary Internet access has become one of our signature standards,” said Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts president and chief executive officer Greg Dogan.
Hyatt was the first non-luxury major brand to offer free Wi-Fi, which it announced in October of last year.
Speaking about the decision, Kristine Rose, vice president of brands for Hyatt, said: “Internet connectivity is no longer an amenity. It has become an integral part of travellers’ daily lives and a basic expectation. Travellers shouldn’t have to remember which brands or locations offer it for free or the strings attached to get it.”
And one hotel boldly charges up to $369 for high quality wifi per day.
Individual or boutique hotels often offer free Wi-Fi, but not all free Wi-Fi is equal, and it simply isn’t enough. If your Wi-Fi is “free” but guests can’t actually use it because it’s so slow or burdened, your staff will spend more time putting out fires and dealing with unhappy guests – and the cost of an unhappy guest is much higher than the cost of high quality connectivity.
