Stupid hotels; or Why Should I Pay for WiFi

I’m currently sitting in the Marriott Anaheim Convention Center, beside the Starbucks. I have a couple of hours to kill since I took an earlier flight than the people I’m meeting here, so I thought to myself: “Self…why don’t you pop open the ol’ laptop and get a little reading/browsing/work done in the meantime.” So I proceed to, confident that no hotel chain is still stupid enough to charge for wifi in their lobbies.

Of course, much like Space and Time, there is no limit to stupidity.

Not ONLY do they charge for WiFi access in the lobby, and not only do they ALSO charge for wired connections in their rooms…no one has the slightest clue about how the wifi works, charges, etc. I had to boot up and actually check the login page to see prices since no one in the hotel lobby had a clue.

This hotspot is controlled by some company called Ibahn, and even after getting to the page, my questions didn’t stop:

As you can see, there are two top choices: 24 hours for $9.95, or 1 day for $9.95. This left me pondering what possible difference there might be between the two that necessitated both choices. Do they not mean consecutive hours? 24 random hours? 24 hours of my choosing? You’d think that question might have come up a few times, and been answered….but no. Not anywhere in the terms of service, not anywhere I can find on the page at all. Just two choices that seem identical, but can’t possibly be since they are both there.

Ah well. I bit the bullet, since this will be paid for by the company I’m out here for eventually anyway. But boy could these guys use a lesson in the economics of wifi and the value of usability testing.

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