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"Interestingly, ‘Internet’ doesn’t really rise above 70% in any hotel class, indicating that internet access is as bad in 3 star hotels as in 5 star hotels. One

"Interestingly, ‘Internet’ doesn’t really rise above 70% in any hotel class, indicating that internet access is as bad in 3 star hotels as in 5 star hotels. One would expect that more expensive hotels would provide a better internet service, but If you’ve ever stayed at a 5 star hotel you know that’s not usually the case..." The more stars the Hotel has the more likely you have to pay for WiFi. If I have to pay for it, I expect it to perform better than if it's free. So I'm going to diss it harder if it is not fast and consistent.

the_mitsuhiko 10y ago
Worst part is that paid Wifi usually works less reliable. I hate it when I stay at a conference hotel where the best I can do is to pay for 12 or 24 hours of internet service and then it brings up the shitty portal page again :-/
- nextos 10y ago
  Have you tried iodine? http://code.kryo.se/iodine/ http://code.kryo.se/iodine/
  - pavel_lishin 10y ago
    What sort of performance hit does that incur?
    - NickBusey 10y ago
      From the page: The bandwidth is asymmetrical with limited upstream and up to 1 Mbit/s downstream.
      - nextos 10y ago
        Yes, my experience is that you won't get great performance. But these networks rarely work very well either. It's good enough for casual surfing and checking email.
chris11 10y ago
I couldn't guess why hotel rating negatively correlates with wifi quality, but the correlation for cost of wifi makes sense. Higher quality hotels in big cities are more likely to get business travelers, and business travelers are more likely to have someone else pay for wifi.
guard-of-terra 10y ago
"The more stars the Hotel has the more likely you have to pay for WiFi" Luckily today, you can see whether Wi-Fi is free on the premises, and give the Hotel its well deserved boot if it's not. How they ever get this idea is beyond me.
- kinkrtyavimoodh 10y ago
  Hotel WiFi in fancy hotels has a much higher expectation of quality / service level than that in a small-ish motel or youth hostel. If the CEO of $BigCorp has to have a Skype call with the client, they won't want package drops and 10 minutes of 'Hello can you hear me'. I am guessing the overall cost of running a reliable reasonably-high-speed WiFi in the whole hotel is much greater than just having a bunch of routers. Of course, whether fancy hotels actually end up delivering said quality and service levels, I dunno.
  - mikestew 10y ago
    Of course, whether fancy hotels actually end up delivering said quality and service levels, I dunno. They don't, my experience says your WiFi will be more crappy at a Hilton/Westin/whatever than a Best Western or even a Motel 6. No, the reason you pay more is because odds are you aren't paying for it, your company is. Motel 6 could never get away with it because that money comes out of my pocket. But when you're putting it on the corporate Amex...
    - askafriend 10y ago
      This dynamic cannot be overstated. The economics of services that are heavily business-expensed is ridiculous.
ajmurmann 10y ago
There was an article here years ago (that I'm too lazy to find via my phone) that claimed that many high end hotels got into deals with providers of paid hotel internet early on when offering wifi was unusual and more involved. At the time the service was cutting edge and pricing justified. Contacts were long running though and now hotels are stuck with it.
- inopinatus 10y ago
  There's an inversion at ca.$1000/night where the connectivity becomes as good as the personal chef.
Bulkington 10y ago
It wasn't long ago that telephone charges provided hotels a significant revenue stream. Good summary here--one which also notes that quality wifi installations are expensive for big hotels, and must be constantly maintained and regularly upgraded. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/2015/02/08/hotel-wifi-free-fees/22926333/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/2015/02/08/ho...
segmondy 10y ago
More stars tend to mean more expensive, usually where most corporate travel would stay. Those wifi? they write it off on their expense rewards or get it for free with hotel reward cards. They rest of normal folks wanting to stay at very nice hotel pay for it. They charge for it because people pay, same way airlines charge for every stupid thing today and people pay.
- ryanlol 10y ago
  I think usually "The rest of normal folks wanting to stay at very nice hotel" is just "the folks that were too lazy to register for hotels reward program". At least that's the case with Hilton, Marriott, SPG.
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  I have consistently and for a long time wondered what "corporate travel" is thinking of when they offer a list of accommodations. Then again, I sort of hate "very nice hotels". They look like TV soap opera sets which is annoying.
ArkyBeagle 10y ago
It's all "paid"; you are just not given the option to not pay for it if it's "free".

the_mitsuhiko 10y ago

Worst part is that paid Wifi usually works less reliable. I hate it when I stay at a conference hotel where the best I can do is to pay for 12 or 24 hours of internet service and then it brings up the shitty portal page again :-/

nextos 10y ago
Have you tried iodine? http://code.kryo.se/iodine/ http://code.kryo.se/iodine/
- pavel_lishin 10y ago
  What sort of performance hit does that incur?
  - NickBusey 10y ago
    From the page: The bandwidth is asymmetrical with limited upstream and up to 1 Mbit/s downstream.
    - nextos 10y ago
      Yes, my experience is that you won't get great performance. But these networks rarely work very well either. It's good enough for casual surfing and checking email.

chris11 10y ago

I couldn't guess why hotel rating negatively correlates with wifi quality, but the correlation for cost of wifi makes sense. Higher quality hotels in big cities are more likely to get business travelers, and business travelers are more likely to have someone else pay for wifi.

guard-of-terra 10y ago

"The more stars the Hotel has the more likely you have to pay for WiFi" Luckily today, you can see whether Wi-Fi is free on the premises, and give the Hotel its well deserved boot if it's not. How they ever get this idea is beyond me.

kinkrtyavimoodh 10y ago
Hotel WiFi in fancy hotels has a much higher expectation of quality / service level than that in a small-ish motel or youth hostel. If the CEO of $BigCorp has to have a Skype call with the client, they won't want package drops and 10 minutes of 'Hello can you hear me'. I am guessing the overall cost of running a reliable reasonably-high-speed WiFi in the whole hotel is much greater than just having a bunch of routers. Of course, whether fancy hotels actually end up delivering said quality and service levels, I dunno.
- mikestew 10y ago
  Of course, whether fancy hotels actually end up delivering said quality and service levels, I dunno. They don't, my experience says your WiFi will be more crappy at a Hilton/Westin/whatever than a Best Western or even a Motel 6. No, the reason you pay more is because odds are you aren't paying for it, your company is. Motel 6 could never get away with it because that money comes out of my pocket. But when you're putting it on the corporate Amex...
  - askafriend 10y ago
    This dynamic cannot be overstated. The economics of services that are heavily business-expensed is ridiculous.

ajmurmann 10y ago

There was an article here years ago (that I'm too lazy to find via my phone) that claimed that many high end hotels got into deals with providers of paid hotel internet early on when offering wifi was unusual and more involved. At the time the service was cutting edge and pricing justified. Contacts were long running though and now hotels are stuck with it.

inopinatus 10y ago
There's an inversion at ca.$1000/night where the connectivity becomes as good as the personal chef.

Bulkington 10y ago

It wasn't long ago that telephone charges provided hotels a significant revenue stream. Good summary here--one which also notes that quality wifi installations are expensive for big hotels, and must be constantly maintained and regularly upgraded. http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/2015/02/08/hotel-wifi-free-fees/22926333/ http://www.usatoday.com/story/travel/columnist/2015/02/08/ho...

segmondy 10y ago

More stars tend to mean more expensive, usually where most corporate travel would stay. Those wifi? they write it off on their expense rewards or get it for free with hotel reward cards. They rest of normal folks wanting to stay at very nice hotel pay for it. They charge for it because people pay, same way airlines charge for every stupid thing today and people pay.

ryanlol 10y ago
I think usually "The rest of normal folks wanting to stay at very nice hotel" is just "the folks that were too lazy to register for hotels reward program". At least that's the case with Hilton, Marriott, SPG.
ArkyBeagle 10y ago
I have consistently and for a long time wondered what "corporate travel" is thinking of when they offer a list of accommodations. Then again, I sort of hate "very nice hotels". They look like TV soap opera sets which is annoying.

ArkyBeagle 10y ago

It's all "paid"; you are just not given the option to not pay for it if it's "free".