First of all I want to say that I rarely stay in hotels. When I go on vacation someplace, it's usually somewhere where I can stay at one of the units that's part of Trendwest membership because I know what to expect as far as quality and because since I'm usually on vacation with my family, having a full kitchen & washer / dryer with dining room & living room along with separate bedrooms is very nice. However the few times I have stayed at a hotel, I'm usually too frugal to get anything more than a non-smoking room that's just going to be a bed for the night. I stayed at a couple different hotels on my road trip to & from Yellowstone last September and again it was on my way to or from one of the resorts I mentioned.
Having said that, staying at the less expensive hotels must have spoiled me. I guess I've come to expect certain things from hotels. I don't expect much, if there's a continental breakfast included in the morning, bonus. But even the less expensive hotels I stayed at had free internet like it was just as standard as water, electricity, & toilet paper. So I was unpleasantly suprised to find that places like the Hyatt or the Sheraton in downtown Seattle didn't offer such fancy things. Oh sure you can get it for a daily fee, but I'm not sure I understand how / why the smaller hotels I've stayed at can offer such a simple thing and the larger chains still charge for it even after the room rates they charge you.
For example, a sample room rate per night at the Sheraton where I'm staying is $140. A local hotel near my home has room rates ranging from $50-70. Now of course the quality of rooms is substantially different but I think I'd rather have a lower quality room with internet access than a higher quality room without. Heck, even the public library has free internet for its patrons.
Hear me now downtown city hotel chain establishments, it's time to step up and get with the program. You may be convenient as a downtown location for events and such, but if you're going to charge me an additional fee on top of the room rate you already charge me, so long as I have options, I'll be sleeping elsewhere.
1 comment:
You're free to check out of the Sheraton and check in to the Travel Lodge or Motel 6. I'll bet they have free juice and internet. Why do many upscale hotels charge for internet? Because their patrons can afford it and are oftentimes business travelers.
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