There was a time when people expected to pay handsomely for those services. Now, we tend to think of them only when they are suddenly - and inconveniently - unavailable.
They are bundled into our bills, either at home or when we travel.To suggest that we should pay for the privilege is to invite scorn, outrage - and a technological workaround.
Hotels and other locales that charge for access to wifi are dinosaurs. They are being eclipsed by the Starbucks and McDonalds of the world who recognize that making our lives easier is part of the internet era ethos. It is what drives customer satisfaction, reputation and repeat business. This is especially true given that 38% of internet security breaches occur in hotels. Anyone who gets in the way of our connection to the rest of the world will soon be disintermediated. JL
The Economist reports:
In the 19th century hotels charged extra if you wanted hot water for a bath. In less than a decade, the idea of paying for internet access at a hotel will seem as ridiculous as the idea of paying for hot water seems to us now.
N YEARS to come we will look back at hotels that charged for Wi-Fi with a kind of incredulous nostalgia. But how far in the future will that be? So far, only one big hotel chain, Hyatt, has—belatedly—been won over by the idea of free, no-strings-attached access for all its customers. A few others, like InterContinental and Starwood, have taken tentative steps, though they are not yet willing to commit fully. Their free access comes with a price, such as insisting guests join loyalty programmes or book via the hotel’s own website, rather than Expedia and the like. Others seem conflicted. Since January, Marriott has allowed those with loyalty cards free access, but last year was caught blocking the personal hotspots of some of its customers, presumably in an attempt to force them to sign up for expensive in-house internet. A few laggards, including Hilton, are still charging their guests as a matter of course.
For those hotels still in doubt: asking guests to pay for Wi-Fi access is spectacularly shortsighted. It is the number one gripe of their customers including, importantly, the wealthiest ones. A study by Resonance, a tourism consulting firm, found that travellers worth more than $1m say that free Wi-Fi is the amenity they value most when choosing a destination—more so even than privacy.
That in itself should make hotels stop and think. But there is an even more important, though less tangible, reason to encourage guests online. Social media is the single biggest marketing tool these firms have. Not in the sense of setting up a corporate page, but because of guests sharing their experiences in real time with their friends. A report by the European Travel Conmission found that about a quarter of leisure travellers turn to social media to check out hotels before booking. They place even more store by looking at travel-review websites like TripAdvisor.
Hence, no matter how much revenue hotels are earning by squeezing guests, the opportunity cost of making access to the internet expensive is huge. According to Resonance, 24% of Americans update social media at least once a day while travelling. For 18-to-34-year-olds, that figure rises to 51%. An even higher proportion post photos. If customers are not sharing thoughts about hotels during their stay because they do not want to pay for Wi-Fi, firms such as Hilton are chopping their marketing off at the knees. Even more shortsightedly, they are left hoping that those guests who do begrudgingly stump up $19 for 24 hours’ Wi-Fi access are still going to write something nice about their room while waiting in the bar for their equally expensive Coco Locos to arrive.
The good news is that these are the dying days of paid-for Wi-Fi. “In the 19th century hotels charged extra if you wanted hot water for a bath," says Chris Fair, president of Resonance. “In less than a decade, I suspect the idea of paying for internet access at a hotel will seem as ridiculous as the idea of paying for hot water seems to us now.” Some things never change, however. During every business revolution, there will always be those who adapt too late to survive.
0 comments:
Post a Comment