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Well…when you are at a hotel for a week and you need to pay for Internet access. I was in St Louis this week and if I wanted to use the Internet in my room, I had to pay for it. Now I could get free Internet in the lobby. I am not a world traveler but I thought having free wi-fi was pretty common. Also the major airports I was in also had wi-fi but you had to pay for it, but in the smaller airports, wi-fi access was free.
I know the reason is money but I think hotels could set up their own local portal and then get local merchants to advertise on it (thus covering the cost). Same would go for the airports. This would seem to be like a win-win. Travelers are natural local searchers!
Well it is nice to be home again and once I get caught up, I will begin posting again!
Paying for wi-fi… arrgghhh!! I was up in Syracuse for a few days last week and before I booked the room the first thing I wanted to know was “Do you offer free Wi-Fi?”.
I actually included the term in my search “Hotel Syracuse + Free wi-fi.
If enough of do this… pretty soon all hotels will offer it. I say boycott all hotels that try to make money from this. 🙂
Larry,
Glad you had a chance to visit my town, hopefully besides the wifi incident it was a good visit. I’ve also noticed the local McD’s charging for what used to be free wifi here in stl.
This ‘hole in the system’ sounds like a need someone could fill and market to hotels, much like the red-light camera companies are doing to local municipalities. find a need and fill it, right?
Thanks Will-yes I had a good time in StL. McD here where I live has free wifi.
Yes-it looks like a nice hole to fill but as with anything-the cost and efforts involves probably holds things back