Hotel guests revolting over wi-fi

Hotel managers take note: your customers are growing frustrated at the charges imposed for using the internet while they are a paying guest in a hotel.

According to a silicon.com poll more than half of respondents believe hotels must stop charging paying guests altogether for internet access, branding it "a rip-off", and a staggering 98 per cent of respondents said charges are too high.

If your hotel is too expensive why not check out wi-fi access in one of London's many pubs.

Check out silicon.com's guide to the best London wi-fi-enabled boozers here.

And what's more only two per cent of respondents said those customers who want internet access should have to keep paying extortionate fees. Another two per cent were pessimistic in their response, suggesting hotels would simply add the costs to other charges and expenses.

Perhaps the starkest warning came from the 20 per cent of respondents who said customers will start to go elsewhere, as internet access becomes a consideration for those booking hotels.

The hotels' best chances of retaining some revenue from web access are the 24 per cent of respondents who said hotels could still charge but must make access a lot cheaper.

One silicon.com reader, posting a reader comment, said large hotels have no excuses. "Large business-traveller hotels have the IT infrastructure already in place and if you are positioning yourself as a business traveller's hotel, then not providing free broadband access is a joke in today's tech world."

Another reader wrote: "Broadband access should always be 'free'. Just like hot water and lighting it's an essential element of the room for the business traveller."