Mr N is on a residential training course for a few days, staying at a hotel. He's taken his laptop and needs to check his emails etc. The hotel is charging him £7 per hour for wifi access. £7!

I am now disgusted.

He can't go elsewhere as they are working long days (8.30 - 7.30 then dinner) and aren't near anywhere useful (like McDs with its free wifi). the hotel is totally taking advantage of people.

I think the hotel is selling a service. He isn't tied up with a gun to his head and forced to use their access, he just chooses to because it is convenient for him due to his long days. So he has made that decision that it is worth the cost to him. no, I don't feel sorry for people who buy things from the minibar and complain about the cost, either.

I think many business type hotels charge excessive fees for services used by the business people who stay there. They know that it's not convenient for most of them to go elsewhere.

But, like everything else, it's supply and demand I suppose.

Well if it's a business trip presumably the company is covering the cost of his expenses - so why should the cost be an issue. And if he doesn;t work for a company, but has his own business, then this is a tax write off.

I agree with the OP - a rip off!! There really is no need to scalp guests so badly under the disguise of business (dis)service. Really do not like stuff like that.

Anna

"... presumably the company is covering the cost of his expenses - so why should the cost be an issue."

Interesting response. Isn't that the thinking that brought us to the current meltdown?

It can be annoying when you are on a business trip and you have to use the corporate travel agent who does not offer the same sort of deals you can get yourself. I don't know if this applies here, but often the hotel has some package or other for wifi, but this is somehow not available to the corporate travel agent. But you also have to consider if the hotel's rate is otherwise reasonable.

Another frustrating thing, at least in the US and Canada, is that hotels that are 2.5* or less very often have free Internet, whereas hotels that are 4* or 5* almost never do.

If he's doing company work he should be reimbursed or they should provide a wireless service account.

Hi Nona...That is a total rip off. And it shouldn't matter who's paying him or CO. It's a joke.

I think it's a ripoff, too. I've noticed that business class hotels charge exorbitant fees for wireless service whereas less expensive hotels charge either much less or nothing at all.

That is extortionist. And yes, the thinking that he gets reimbursed by the company so it doesn't matter is a classic example of the crap that got us all so screwed in the current economy. There is no reason on earth to pay 7 euro an hour for internet use. The hotel is ripping him off, period.

Yes, unbelievable, I was in Anaheim Hilton over the weekend and internet for one hour was $5.95 Hilton!

It gets worse.

He tried to connect using it this morning. Put in card details, his email details, didn't connect, nothing happened, he just got sent back to the start all the time. The hotel wasn't much help - just kept telling him to try from a different area of the hotel.

So now I've checked his emails and hey presto! He now has 6 24-hour subscriptions all set up with Orange France (even though we are in UK) at 20E each. To get access you have to use the login and password and serial number they've emailed you relating to the subscription. OK, call us stupid, but we've never done this before. How is someone who is at a hotel and needing wifi access to the internet, supposed to read their emails to get the info to unlock the access?

I've let him know what's happened and I think that the extra 5 subscriptions should either be refunded by Orange or the hotel (who should understand how the wifi access they sold to him works). And that, in fact, it won't work if you are trying to set it up without already having access.

Aaarrggh. I bet that's £100 up the spout though as I don't hold out much hope of getting anwhere with a refund.

Are we stupid or are they?

Meteor Networks has hotspots all over France at very attractive prices.

<B>First thing I do</B> when I want access is to run the "View Available Wireless Networks" function of the Network Connections program. (I also have a network finder called WiFiFoFum on my Pocket PC, which facilitates the process.)

With rare exceptions, I can find an open network to glom onto for free.* Occasionally, there are only paid networks, in which case I have to pull up their home page to find out costs and terms. I shop a little before plunking down my credit card (I will not use a debit card for this purchase).

* Glomming is not entirely legal in some jurisdictions, in which case it's Plan B.

Here, Kinkos is 25 cents a minute. A rip off,too. I agree with you, what a rip off! Happy Travels!

Where is this hotel and what is it's name so other internet users can avoid it?