Original Article

Hotels should lower prices for Wi-Fi services: Expedia

Wi-Fi services across hotels in the world are very expensive, ranging from £0.78 per hour in Florida to £6.43 per hour in Venice. In Europe and UK specifically, the prices are so high that it has become a major nuisance for both business travellers and tourists. In an attempt to tackle this problem, Expedia.co.uk, the reputed travel website has asked hotels to reduce the price that travellers pay to access Wi-Fi services.

Alison Couper, Communications Director for Expedia believes that online services during travel should be simple and cost effective. Such services help all kinds of people whether they are business travellers or on a holiday and have almost become critical now. For cutting down on the travel budget in 2009, she suggests that one should drop one or two ratings for hotels, as most budget hotels offer cheap or at times free Wi-Fi. Expedia’s research also shows that hotels with a rating of four stars or less were the ones, which are likely to offer free Wi-Fi service.

Expedia has also advised travellers to check if the hotel they plan to stay in has a business centre or not. Hotels that have a business centre, mostly offer free Wi-Fi services to the customers, and they also have tariffs available that include Wi-Fi access.

Rewritten Version 1

Hotel Wi-Fi too expensive, says travel website Expedia

The internet has become a necessity for most of us today and if you have stayed in a hotel in the recent past, you would have realized how difficult internet access becomes when you are travelling. Confirming this through a research study, Expedia.co.uk, the popular travel website has urged hotels to lower the prices of Wi-Fi access and make the pricing simpler.

The research suggests that most hotels do not seem to realize how important it is for travellers to get cheap and easy access to the Internet and the problem is especially severe in Europe and UK.

The prices in different hotels vary significantly, for example, a hotel in Florida is offering Wi-Fi access at £0.78 per hour whereas a hotel in Venice, Italy is charging £6.43 per hour for it. If that was not enough, the hotels also use complex ways of pricing this service, hourly, half-hourly, daily, limited usage etc. What all this means for the traveller, be it for business or for leisure, is that choosing between hotels has become a very complicated process.

Expedia offers some advice to simplify your travel if broadband access is important for you. According to the company, if you choose hotels with slightly lower star rating you are likely to get much better Wi-Fi usage terms, maybe even free access. One could also look at whether the hotel has a business centre. Such a hotel is likely to have a Wi-Fi inclusive tariff and the business centre area usually offers free Wi-Fi access.

Rewritten Version 2

Finally an appeal to the hotels to reduce Wi-Fi prices

If you have stayed in a hotel in the recent past, you would have realized how difficult it suddenly becomes to reply to your emails, browse your favourite websites, or catch up with your friends on the messenger.

Hotels seem oblivious to the problems faced by travellers and Wi-Fi prices in most hotels have stayed high for a long time now. To add to the confusion there are several kinds of pricing structures in place, time based charge, usage based charge or even a combination of the two.

Now Expedia, the leading travel website has appealed to the hotels to lower the Wi-Fi access prices and simplify the pricing models. According to Alison Couper, the company’s communications director, getting online while travelling should be a simple and cost effective process, but in reality, it is exactly the opposite.

Ms Couper also has some advice for travellers while choosing hotels. According to her hotels with business-centres, usually offer free wireless broadband, even if it is in a limited area, or provide tariff, which includes the charge for broadband access. Moreover, Expedia has found in its research that hotels with slightly lower star rating have a better chance of providing cheaper or free Wi-Fi access along with other extras, making them a significantly more economical option if you cannot resist getting online.