#125 Charging for the Internet

One of the true mysteries of hoteldom is why the least expensive hotels (La Quinta, Holiday Inn Express, Marriott Courtyard) provide free Internet service and the most expensive hotels (Crowne Plaza, Sheraton, Hilton) charge for it. I guess the answer is because they can. Think about how much money they make on that service. The normal charge is $10 per day per room. I don't know about you, but for a dedicated line I pay around $30 a MONTH. What's more amazing is that you know it doesn't cost the hotel $30 a month for Internet service per room. Actually the cost is more like $5 per month per room. So it is like printing money. What can we do about it? Unless forced to stay in an Internet Charging Hotel, I don't. If I do have to stay in one of those nasty charging hotels I always complain about it on the satisfaction survey. Still when you are printing money you usually don't care what the rabble have to say. Remember how they used to charge out the roof for long distance and local calls? Cell phones ended that. Satellite wireless may eventually end this rip off someday.