Hotels' charges for Internet irk some

— -- Frequent business traveler Randall Blinn refuses to stay at hotels that charge for Internet access.

"It really irritates me that the more expensive hotels charge for Internet access when the inexpensive hotels provide it for free," says Blinn, a computer consultant in Louisville.

Blinn is one of many travelers disturbed by hotels that charge a daily fee for Internet access. He says he books less-expensive hotels with free Internet access, even if his company will pay for a more expensive hotel that charges for online access.

Yet, charging guests for Internet access in their rooms remains common as hotels continue to look for revenue, especially as occupancy rates have fallen during the recession. According to a USA TODAY survey of 80 hotel brands, 40% charge such a fee at all or most of their U.S. hotels. The charge can vary at hotels within the same brand but often ranges from $9.95 to $14.95 daily.

"As long as hotels can generate the revenue, they will charge for it," says Jeff Weinstein, editor in chief of Hotels magazine, a trade publication. "There is no more telephone revenue, and this is one way to replace it."

Weinstein says he thinks that most upscale hotel guests "can live with" a $10 daily fee for Internet access but find some higher charges unacceptable.

For Blinn, who has spent about 50 nights in hotels this year, any charge is unacceptable. If he must stay at a hotel that charges, he says, he leaves the hotel for a fast-food restaurant or a coffee shop that provides free Internet access.

A few weeks ago, Blinn says, he spent a lot of time in the concierge lounge of the Marriott hotel in Salt Lake City, because the hotel was charging for Internet access in rooms but not in the lounge.

Going around charges

Some frequent business travelers avoid hotel charges by bringing their own devices for Internet access.

Michael Sommer, a consultant in Jacksonville, uses Sprint's MiFi device, which is about the size of a credit card and provides Internet access for up to five people for a monthly charge.

Many hotels offer free wireless Internet access in lobbies, lounges, other common areas and guest rooms on floors for higher-paying guests. Sommer suggests booking rooms near those areas to pick up an Internet connection.

Mason Blacher, a fundraising consultant in Seattle, who has spent about 50 nights in hotels this year, says a complaint about access charges to a hotel manager can result in free service.

"Sometimes, I offer to return the expensive toiletry amenities, which arguably cost the hotel more, in exchange for free Wi-Fi," Blacher says. "That usually gets 'em."

Besides offering free Internet access to higher-paying guests, some hotel brands offer it free to frequent-guest-club members.

All members of Omni Hotels' Select Guest program get free Wi-Fi in the guest rooms of the brand's 36 U.S. hotels, Omni Vice President Caryn Kboudi says. Membership in the program is free.

At all Hyatt hotels, members of the chain's Gold Passport program with platinum status receive free Internet access, Hyatt spokeswoman Karrie Leung says. Platinum status is achieved after five stays or 15 nights per year.

Omni says that about 12% of its guests used in-room Internet access when free Wi-Fi was offered in 2003. Now, 50% to 70% of guests use it daily, and about one-fifth of all users — those who are not frequent-guest-club members — pay $9.95 daily.

Message is 'getting louder'

Most guests in the past used Internet access to check personal e-mail, says Richard Tudgay, Omni's vice president of information technology.

But today, he says, they're using it for much more: for work, to visit websites such as Facebook, to watch movies and even to connect to home video recorders to watch favorite TV shows.

Despite the multiple uses, many frequent business travelers say that Internet access in hotel rooms should be free or available for a nominal charge, such as $5 per day.

USA TODAY asked members of its Road Warrior panel — volunteers who travel very frequently on business — for the most expensive Internet access charge they have seen.

Linda Curran, a Las Vegas-based software consultant in the food and beverage industry, says she recently was at the Conrad Istanbul in Turkey. The hotel charged about $40 per day for Internet access, she says.

Weinstein, of Hotels magazine, says the Hong Kong-based luxury chain Shangri-La eliminated Internet access charges at all its hotels earlier this year, and there's more relief in sight for guests at upscale hotels.

"I think the message from consumers about this is getting louder, and you will continue to see more (hotel) brands move toward free access over the next year or two," he says.