MRand

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express on a business trip last week and got two complimentary bottles of Ozarka and free Internet access. This week I'm staying at the Four Seasons on a business trip, and they want $7.50 for the bottle of Fiji in the room and $10 per day for Internet access. This seems backwards to me.

MikeT

It is the water and Internet that is the "incentive" to stay at someplace like a Holiday Inn Express for work. They have to get people in there somehow.

OTOH, there are lots of reasons to go to the Four Seasons and free water/Internet aren't likely to be the hook that convinces you to stay there.

mlgb

In most/many Holiday Inn Ex's you also get free in-room coffee & tea, a refrigerator, breakfast, parking, no resort charge etc. Most have some type of business center and sometimes it is free. You do have to carry your own bags to your room and there isn't always an elevator.

Dukey

$10 a day for access is probably cheap forsome folks.

What is probably more annoying is that sometimes in those so-called "upscale" hotels there is actually dirt!

NewbE

The nickel-and-diming cuts both ways: although it's true that if I can afford the 4 Seasons, I can spring for the water, it is also true that the 4 Seasons can afford to give it to me for free, and makes for an infinitely more gracious gesture.

It is uncalled for for any hotel to charge anything for Internet access in this day and age.

dmlove

This threatens to turn into a thread like the BofA ATM thread of last week. I agree it's ridiculous (within the Marriott chain alone, internet is free at Courtyard, but costs $10-15 a day at the Marriott), but they'd charge for the water you use to shower if they could. It's up to the consumer to decide if they'd rather stay at the Four Seasons and pay for all of that on top of the already-high room rate, or not. Nobody's forcing anybody to stay at the Four Seasons.

suze

Maybe they figure it you can afford to stay at the Four Seasons, you can afford to pay more for bottled water and internet service.

TxTravelPro

You know what I hate even more? NO self serve ICE!
I hate being nickled and dimed to death. I have never had a hotel refuse to let me use a shelf in the minibar fridge. That would be high up on my list, too. I also want the right to limit housekeeping to every other day.

We are not alone. Departures surveys hundreds of Platinum and Centurion card holders every year.
These card holders (even Centurion) like rates that includes these 'amenities'. There is even a recent trend at some ultra luxury places to include everything at one price... even mini-bar items. Can't recall what properties at the moment, but they are not 'all-inclusive' resorts.

Dukey

Even more annoying: if you sneeze or cough with 10 feet of the mini bar it charges you for it!

Don

I always assume the hotel people figure a larger percentage of the people staying in the higher-end properties are there on business, and the guest will expense the Internet access--a business that's willing to foot the bill for the high-end hotel and other business travel expenses isn't likely to question a charge for Internet service.

Could be a bad assumption on my part...

Don

On an unrelated note, why is it that most of the high-end hotels don't have exhaust fans in their bathrooms while a lot of the lower-priced hotels do?

frank_and_beans

rich people's poo doesn't smell.

Thomas6

Keep all this in mind, all you naysayers about B&Bs. At mine, there is free wifi and a guest computer available, no charges for phone calls, breakfast is included in the rate, two complimentary bottles of water and two chocolates are bedside, a hot water kettle with instant tea, coffee, cider and hot chocolate are always available, cookies are out in the afternoon, and brewed good coffee is available with homemade biscotti at 7:00 in the morning before breakfast.

dmlove

Y'know, none of it is "free", it's just "included" or "not included". If you have two hotels side by side and they are otherwise identical, and one provides "free" breakfast and drinks and the other doesn't, and they're the same rate, of course you'll pick the one that has the "freebies". But no two hotels are identical, so you have to know what's included and figure out the total cost. The one that I hate the most is the "daily resort fee". I come to your hotel because it's a resort with swimming pool, fitness facilities, etc., and I have to pay EXTRA to use those things? Uh-uh. And yes, I do ask.

TxTravelPro

I mostly travel on an expense account and yes, I charge back every penny to my company BUT I have an annual T&I budget.
I am accountable for every penny I spend AND I try to keep costs down.
Before you flame me, keep in mind that I work in the hotel industry.
I stay at a 4 or 5 star hotels because they are my customer, typically the reason for my trip... otherwise I would be at moderate hotels.

happytrailstoyou

There is no charge for "complimentary" or "free" items.

dmlove

There may be no separate charge for "complimentary" or "free" items, but I assure you they're not being offered out of the goodness of the hotel's heart. The cost is just factored into the rate. Simple economics.

nytraveler

I don;t think people are deciding between Holiday Inn Express and Four Seasons based on free water and internet access. The cost structures are so widely different that those few $ are minimal.

They might make a difference between hotels with similar charges - but if you want a Four Seasons (with all the services/amenities it provides) a Holiday Inn Express simply won;t do it.

When I travel for business I need 24 hour room service, 24 hour business services and a top notch concierge. Holiday Inn Express can give me gallons of free water and it won;t help with what I need on a trip. (Never mind that the consultants I work with expect name brands that stroke their egos.)

MRand

NewbE hit the nail on the head as far as I'm concerned: "the 4 Seasons can afford to give it to me for free, and makes for an infinitely more gracious gesture."

The 4 Seasons provides me far more amenities than the Holiday Inn Express, but those are presumptively included in the higher overall room charge. In a hotel that prides itself on "class," it seems unseemly (cheap ?) to put a prominently displayed paper $7.50 price tag on a bottle of water in the room. (Then I noticed in the gift shop they charge only $1.50 for a half liter of the same brand of water that they want $7.50 per liter in the room.)

nyer

I imagine that the reason they charge is that they can. If people didn't fall for it, they wouldn't keep doing it.Many hotels have soda machines, yet people get their drinks from a much more expensive mini bar rather than walk 10 feet down the hall.It's a matter of personal choice
I know that some hotel affinity clubs advertise that membership will get you those things for free, so you can feel special that you have gotten something that someone else did not. You can convince yourself that the free breakfast at a Hampton Inn, or the free beverage service at Omni or Wyndham hotels is worth a lot of money, but I tend to choose my hotels based on manyfactors, Price is one factor, but surely not the only one. I definitely do not consider the "free water" or whatever to have more than a nominal value...