Travelling has become such an everyday experience for a business that these days it is rare to meet a businessman who has not, at some point, taken a trip outside of their home country. Not only has it become easy and quite inexpensive to book a flight half way across the world, hotels and other lodging have become quite within the reach of the average middle class business traveller.
To welcome these travellers, hotels have had to learn to offer not only the best in soft beds and clean linen, but a way to make their stay feel like home. This is where the importance of hotel Wi-Fi shouldn’t be underrated. For not only does everyone expect a television in every room, these days they also expect to have free access to Wi-Fi.
The Rise of Free Hotel Wifi
Initially, for most of the smaller hotel chains at least, any kind of hotel Wi-Fi being offered was generally piggybacked on the business data, and offered primarily to business guests. Many hotels began to offer Wi-Fi in a special room, often referred to as the business office or business suite, for these types of guests. But the advent of the smartphone soon changed this.
For any kind of guest who had a smartphone, Wi-Fi was essential for checking email and jumping onto social media while travelling. After all, how can you possibly be visiting cities in foreign countries and not post something eye-catching and fun on the Insta for all your colleagues, business partners and friends back home?
Having Wi-Fi in the guest rooms had become the modern equivalent of having postcards and stamps at the room desk. “Having a great time in London after the conference – wish you were here!” sent via Wi-Fi to Facebook or Instagram instead of the local post office.
When Electronic Perks Become the Norm
Initially the expectation was that Wi-Fi was something that was offered as a perk. It was in the best hotels, particularly ones that often showed up on a businessman’s travel expense account.
When booking hotels, discreet enquiries would be made by booking secretaries about whether Wi-Fi was part of the room package. But as smartphones began to dominate everyday life, so too did the need to always be able to access your phone.
While data plans were available, they weren’t cheap and didn’t always translate when travelling. Offering Wi-fi at your hotel became not only a perk that brought in the customer base, it became expected. If you are a hotel of any note at all, you should be offering it.
Woe be the hotel in a smart part of town that didn’t offer the ability to access Wi-fi with or without an extra fee. This is particularly true for a business hotel.
What had become first a business perk, then a general extra has now become something as vital as clean towels and room service. Some hotels may not offer it, but only the cheap and those looking for a bargain would even consider booking a hotel without it.
The Plugged In Generation
Today, business people book hotels with an expectation that Internet connections are available as a part of the service offered. Indeed, as the next generation of truly wired individuals begin to plan their business trips or even vacations, more hotels see that offering all the comforts of home has to include this ability to plug into the wired world. From hotel room desks set up for laptops and now tablets, to adding more outlets for keeping all our electronic goodies charged up and ready to go, hotels today must be wired for the new generations of business travellers.
Now over to you: Are you, as a hotel owner, ready to accommodate the trends, or still believe that Internet connection is not something that should be your priority as a service? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.