CogBlog

Ok, a little rant here.

Last week when I was attending Ad:Tech in San Francisco I was run through the money extraction machine known as hotel internet access.

The conference was at the Palace Hotel. I stayed at the "W" Hotel just around the corner. Both hotels are Starwood properties, and each uses the same service, TurboNet, to provide internet access. So, you would think that they could coordinate with each other right? No.

For wireless internet access in the lobby and (some parts of) the meeting rooms of the Palace Hotel you must pay $15/day whether you are a guest or not. At the "W" you must pay $15/day for high speed access in your hotel room (there is no access from the rooms of the Palace). But, if you also want to access the very same network in the lobby of the "W", you have to pay an additional fee, I think it was $9. So on one day, you could easily spend $40 just for the privilege of accessing the same network from three locations!

If you were willing to walk across the street, you could access the net at the local Starbucks at $30 for an entire month.

So what is so special about hotel wireless that it should cost so much? Why are they so different from your local coffee shop, library, or MacDonalds? Of course, the answer is they can get away with it for the moment. But, the day is soon coming when free internet access will be an expected room perk.

I'm ready.