With the 900-pound water bottle gorilla and the WiFi elephant in the guestroom, it’s a wonder there’s any space left for a weary business traveler’s carry-on. Toss in a fitness center that’s locked, and the rationale for paying the high price of a luxury hotel room starts to fall apart.
Lots of things matter to luxury business guests. Excellent concierge service, efficient check-in, good lighting, plentiful work space with easily accessed outlets, a great coffeemaker and 24-hour room service are necessary for what the business traveler is there to do: Work long hours. But other things matter as well, and hoteliers understand how the more subtle effects of soft, superior linens; an in-room iron and ironing board; and a hair dryer that actually does what it was designed to do can enhance a stay and help guests feel comfortable and at home in their temporary environment.
Equal to the concept of coddling high-paying guests should be the goal of not deliberately irritating them. And, say an increasing number of business travelers, that’s exactly what some major luxury brands are doing.
Leo Kennedy, deputy chief and executive fire officer for the city of Cranston, R.I., travels frequently around the country conducting educational seminars and is a regular traveler to Europe and the United Kingdom. His pet peeve is reaching for the bottle of water left out for him, only to find a card telling him how much it costs to remove the cap. At a certain room price point, he explains, additional charges are infuriating.
“I buy bottled water in the supermarket all the time,” Kennedy says. “I know exactly what it costs. Don’t charge me six dollars for a bottle of water in a room I’ve already paid a great deal for.”
Water aside, technology is a trigger point for the wrath of guests at luxury properties. When Hotel Internet Services, Inc. — a company that supplies Internet services to hotels, resorts, casinos, conference centers and short-term lodging — conducted a survey of 560 guests nationwide in 2012, the results were clear: 91 percent said having guestroom Internet services was “very important,” while 70 percent confirmed having this service directly impacted their choice of hotel.
While some hotels offer conditional complimentary WiFi for guests who book through the hotel website or are members of an affiliated loyalty program, the puzzling thing is that fast, dependable in-room WiFi still comes with an additional price tag at most high-end properties. Not only have guests paid for luxury accommodations, but they’ve had anywhere from a few dollars to more than $30 per day added to their bill for WiFi access that may have been slow or intermittent at best.
It’s not as though hotels had to build the necessary infrastructure from scratch: They’re already running many hotel operations via the Internet. Why not build any small additional charge directly into the room rate? And what’s the basis for calculating the charge to begin with? If, for example, a 250- room hotel has 200 guests paying $19.99 each for WiFi on a single night’s stay, that’s $3,998 for one night. Multiply that by a month, and that’s $119,940 for Internet services alone. The number looks even better when totaled for a year.
So, is it all about a brand’s profit margins — and are some service providers complicit in sharing in those profits? Why do low-budget brands offer free WiFi but luxury guests have to pay? And even more mysterious, why are many boutique luxury brands offering complimentary WiFi without raising a single eyebrow in the process?
We’d love to answer these questions, but though we contacted numerous providers and asked the management from major hotel brands to explain or at least comment, practically no one would talk to us. The curtain that’s been drawn looks suspiciously like the drape that kept the townsfolk of Oz from knowing who was pulling all those smoke-and-mirror levers.
Only two of the luxury brands contacted — Fairmont and Steigenberger — agreed to speak on the topic. A few boutique property spokespeople were less constrained. Sean Cummings, the owner of International House, a luxury boutique hotel in New Orleans, offers complimentary high-speed WiFi to all his guests, believing it gives his hotel a compelling competitive advantage. He describes the Internet service as “blazing fast.”
“It’s my viewpoint,” says Cummings, “that the hotel industry, in particular the larger chain hotels, are still angry that cellphones eliminated telephone revenue, and iTunes nabbed pay per view. It’s mind-numbing, but WiFi, for some, seems to be the new telephone department in terms of what remains to charge to guests.”
It’s an international issue. In Prague’s competitive boutique luxury market, Jan Korta, group director of sales and marketing for ARIA Hotel and the Golden Well Hotel, says it’s also a tricky one. In an internal survey of 6,300 frequent business travelers, 47 percent of respondents said the hotel must cater to their technology needs before they book it, with WiFi a top priority.
“Some large hotel chains waive the Internet charges for their loyalty program platinum and diamond members,” he notes. “The profit margin is of course very high, and the costs are flat and relatively cheap; however, it is always about the type of the hotel, location and business mix. We have decided to provide it for free and at a premium speed in order to offer a great benefit and keep the guests in the hotel while pushing other revenue streams such as food and beverage.”
Jeff Doane, vice president of sales and marketing, Americas, for Fairmont Raffles Hotels International, explains WiFi is offered to guests provided they’ve joined the brand’s loyalty program.
“It’s not a points program,” Doane emphasizes. “It’s a loyalty program designed with the idea of the luxury business traveler in mind — based on the concept that as a member, we will know you as an individual. We’ll know what you want so that when you stay with us, you’ll have your specific needs met.”
Doane feels paying for in-room WiFi isn’t really a concern to business travelers because their company or organization pays for their stay. But that’s not necessarily the rule, especially in an economy where corporate belts have tightened. Yet the necessity for fast, reliable access for business travelers remains, even if they have to pay for it themselves.
“Complimentary in-room WiFi is a must, preferably with no weird, daily log-in needed,” says Elisa Bosley, editor in chief of Delicious Living, who often has multiple deadlines when she’s traveling. For the record, she agrees about the water. “I see complimentary bottled water as a nice way for a hotel to say, ‘Hey, we know the room is already expensive, so why should we charge you for water?’”
Adds Kristine Carey, vice president of marketing and consumer empowerment at MyChelle Dermaceuticals, “Keeping connected is a must; and if WiFi is included, it gives the impression that the hotel is very attentive to the business traveler. And I don’t want the price of a hotel to go up because they are rolling in the costs — I think transparency is key.”
HotelChatter.com’s 2013 Hotel WiFi Report shows that 64 percent of hotels offer free WiFi, whether it’s for a defined period, part of a loyalty or other program. The report’s brand-by-brand breakdown is quite revealing: The higher the hotel ranks in luxury and price, the less likely WiFi is free. Stay at many a Hampton Inn, Days Inn or Holiday Inn, on the other hand, and WiFi is complimentary. Most offer complimentary breakfast to boot.
Puneet Chhatwal, CEO of Steigenberger Hotels AG, points out that it doesn’t matter if you’re a leisure guest, business traveler or someone with four kids who are all carrying iPods.
“Everyone needs WiFi access these day,” he says. “It’s difficult to imagine going into a hotel that doesn’t have it. The industry is looking at this carefully. It should be pointed out that there are individual situations where older contractual binders with service providers stipulate that a hotel must buy back the rights to Internet service. There are also cases where contract terms dictate that profits are shared, whether you own a franchise or manage a brand. There is a cost of entry and a cost of exit. How you’re able as a business to manage that process can have a lot to do with charges. That said, it’s an unimaginable thing to charge a guest $300 or $700 for a room each night and then charge them an extra $20 for WiFi.”
Even with charges, limited bandwidth can remain an issue.
“Obviously free is better,” says John Erich, associate editor of Cygnus Business Media’s EMS World Magazine. “My company will pay this willingly, as it’s a necessity for publishing — but signal strength is often a problem in rooms. Sometimes, even when you pay for this, it’s functionally useless. That may prevent me from returning to a hotel.”
Back to those soft linens and inviting rooms. All the brouhaha over technology is one thing. What about the disappearance of in-room coffeemakers? The Hotel Internet Services survey says 56.4 percent responding still want them. And that’s not all that’s important.
“I love quick check-in,” Delicious Living’s Bosley offers. “I also love a large vanity; for business trips I have to look especially presentable, so I like to spread out my toiletries and jewelry. And I must have an iron and ironing board.”
Los Angeles-based film writer and producer Thommy Hutson prefers a hotel’s amenities be available when it’s most convenient for him. Often, his travel schedule requires that he use a fitness center or a pool at night. Having hotel amenities not be available around the clock directly affects his desire to stay. He also requires multiple accessible outlets for charging phones and computers in his room.
For John Erich, late check-out is an essential perk. Extending his stay through lunchtime on final travel days makes it easy to get back to his room after morning meetings before checking out.
Pre-loaded iPads are useful time savers. © Diego Vito Cervo | Dreamstime.com
Some great features are popping up to enhance the experience for business guests. Free global telephone service and pre-loaded, in-room iPads that guide a guest through the hotel’s offerings, with details on local restaurants and sites, are growing in popularity. Fairmont delivers Reebok workout gear to a guest’s room, saving valuable luggage space; they’re now testing iPads in several hotels, along with kiosk check-in. And, as Steigenberger Hotels’ Chhatwal points out, high-quality bathroom amenities are a big trend, along with plush, branded slippers and robes.
“The business traveler is really a road warrior, constantly in the air, on the road or catching a train,” he says. “When they arrive at their room, it should be as nice or nicer than home. Steigenberger knows this and offers the small finishing touches that make the experience memorable — six pillows on the bed, turndown service, mattresses that invite sleep. Hallmarks of quality.”
At the end of the day, feeling like a valued guest rather than just another tick in the accounting ledger may be the very best amenity of all.
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