> I spend a little over half a year on the road. I've recently been charged for internet at an Omni, a Wyndham, and a Westin hotel in the U.S.
Your experience is really becoming more and more less common. I would say, especially so for a frequent traveller such as yourself. Just in the past 4 weeks I've visited the following cities:
* Boston
* San Francisco
* New York area
* Atlanta
* Denver
* Houston
Free internet the whole trip. Stayed in a mix of Hilton and Marriott properties (Hilton, HGI, Hampton, Doubletree, Springfield Suites, Towneplace Suites, and Marriott Courtyard) with one stay at a Holiday Inn.
If you travel so much, you should really get on the various frequent travel programs that the hotel chains offer. In fact, one of the hotels you stayed at, Westin, provides free wifi if you're enrolled in SPG's rewards program (you don't even need to have status). This has been the policy since 2015 (1).
> I am referring to being able to specify my checkin and checkout time when I book. All of the online reservations systems I have used still mandate 3:00PM check in. I am not talking about picking up the phone and calling the front desk after I am already in the room.
Yes, Hilton allows you to specify the check-in times and also ask for late check-out via their app. Most, if not all, hotel chains also allow you make additional requests via a comments field when you make the booking on the web. In any case, making a quick phone call is really not that much of a hassle, and not that much more convenient than sending a message to your host on AirBnB.
> Really 15% of a $300 dollar a night hotel for 3 days(roughly $135) goes to meeting safety inspections? None of the $300 a night goes towards meeting that?
Taxes cover many costs, some portion of it, likely due to regulations. Bringing up the room rate is a bit of a misdirection, that rate is determined a host of variables, of which regulations is likely not one (or really low on the list). In any case, AirBnB tacks on a litany of fees to their "rack rate". I'm not sure what your point here - the hotels don't set the taxes...
> I'm sorry but I don't think that a hotel having an app for your smartphone is some great innovation in the industry.
Well your original complaint was that the hotel industry is not innovating, and you cite things like charging for wifi and not being able to check-in early / check-out late as supporting evidence.
I'm highlighting to you all the various things that the hotel industry is currently doing to "innovate". It's not just about having an app, its about the various features and functionalities that the app offers, which as a consequence, brings "innovation" to the user experience. At my recent Hilton stays, I was able to do everything (book a room, check-in, choose my room, unlock my door, check-out, receive my invoice, etc.) without any human contact involved at all. How is that not innovation?
Honestly, I'm pretty surprised that you hold these views given that you travel "a little over half the year". I would highly suggest you: 1) Enroll in each hotel chains' customer loyalty program; 2) Try to focus your stays in one/two chains as to build status. Also, take some time to do some basic research. Lots of popular travel blogs to start with and you always have FlyerTalk to default back to if you're into the discussion board format.
I started my career as a management consultant traveling every week (one year I had over 175 hotel stays!) and find myself traveling nearly as much in my current job. In the US at least, the hotel industry has changed/innovated, quite a bit in the past decade. I'm confidant that if you post your views on say FlyerTalk, people will back up my points.
>". I would highly suggest you: 1) Enroll in each hotel chains' customer loyalty program; "
Why do I need to sign up for every individual hotel's loyalty program in order to receive "special treatment" when those things are a considered basic amenities and practices elsewhere? Why do they need to be part of "special program"? Creating some artificial status is not really innovation.
>"I'm confidant that if you post your views on say FlyerTalk, people will back up my points."
Now why would I do that? I'm not competing with you. This was a discussion.
There are a lot of people innovating in business today. I don't think for most people hotel chains would be there first thought as an experience that has changed with the times.
> Why do I need to sign up for every individual hotel's loyalty program in order to receive "special treatment" when those things are a considered basic amenities and practices elsewhere? Why do they need to be part of "special program"? Creating some artificial status is not really innovation.
You're shifting the argument and haven't really addressed all the other examples I've cited for how the hotel industry is trying to innovate. If you can't be bothered to take a few minutes to sign-up for some programs, then I guess you'll have to keep on paying for WiFi and complaining about it on online forums :P
Plus these customer loyalty programs are pretty much par for the course in every travel industry - and soon I'm sure - will be adopted by AirBnB as well. United MileagePlus program for example has existed for like 30 years... so it's not like this is a new phenomena. I'm sure there are other customer loyalty programs that predate that.
The "I hate doing this and don't see a reason to do it" argument is not very convincing. You're projecting.
> Now why would I do that? I'm not competing with you. This was a discussion.
It's a discussion in the sense that we're both talking, but you're not really addressing any of the points or examples I've cited. If you dislike hotel chains, so be it, but clearly hotels are trying to innovate and have innovated in the past decade.
You might want to consult FlyerTalk because that forum is geared towards frequent travelers, like yourself, and frequented by subject matter experts. If you're open to learning about how the industry is innovating, I'm sure you find even better examples than the ones I've provided.
> There are a lot of people innovating in business today. I don't think for most people hotel chains would be there first thought as an experience that has changed with the times.
I agree with you, but don't you see that you're shifting the argument? Your original point is that hotels are not innovating. Now it has shifted to: the hotel industry is not as innovate as other industries.
Your experience is really becoming more and more less common. I would say, especially so for a frequent traveller such as yourself. Just in the past 4 weeks I've visited the following cities: * Boston * San Francisco * New York area * Atlanta * Denver * Houston
Free internet the whole trip. Stayed in a mix of Hilton and Marriott properties (Hilton, HGI, Hampton, Doubletree, Springfield Suites, Towneplace Suites, and Marriott Courtyard) with one stay at a Holiday Inn.
If you travel so much, you should really get on the various frequent travel programs that the hotel chains offer. In fact, one of the hotels you stayed at, Westin, provides free wifi if you're enrolled in SPG's rewards program (you don't even need to have status). This has been the policy since 2015 (1).
> I am referring to being able to specify my checkin and checkout time when I book. All of the online reservations systems I have used still mandate 3:00PM check in. I am not talking about picking up the phone and calling the front desk after I am already in the room.
Yes, Hilton allows you to specify the check-in times and also ask for late check-out via their app. Most, if not all, hotel chains also allow you make additional requests via a comments field when you make the booking on the web. In any case, making a quick phone call is really not that much of a hassle, and not that much more convenient than sending a message to your host on AirBnB.
> Really 15% of a $300 dollar a night hotel for 3 days(roughly $135) goes to meeting safety inspections? None of the $300 a night goes towards meeting that?
Taxes cover many costs, some portion of it, likely due to regulations. Bringing up the room rate is a bit of a misdirection, that rate is determined a host of variables, of which regulations is likely not one (or really low on the list). In any case, AirBnB tacks on a litany of fees to their "rack rate". I'm not sure what your point here - the hotels don't set the taxes...
> I'm sorry but I don't think that a hotel having an app for your smartphone is some great innovation in the industry.
Well your original complaint was that the hotel industry is not innovating, and you cite things like charging for wifi and not being able to check-in early / check-out late as supporting evidence.
I'm highlighting to you all the various things that the hotel industry is currently doing to "innovate". It's not just about having an app, its about the various features and functionalities that the app offers, which as a consequence, brings "innovation" to the user experience. At my recent Hilton stays, I was able to do everything (book a room, check-in, choose my room, unlock my door, check-out, receive my invoice, etc.) without any human contact involved at all. How is that not innovation?
Honestly, I'm pretty surprised that you hold these views given that you travel "a little over half the year". I would highly suggest you: 1) Enroll in each hotel chains' customer loyalty program; 2) Try to focus your stays in one/two chains as to build status. Also, take some time to do some basic research. Lots of popular travel blogs to start with and you always have FlyerTalk to default back to if you're into the discussion board format.
I started my career as a management consultant traveling every week (one year I had over 175 hotel stays!) and find myself traveling nearly as much in my current job. In the US at least, the hotel industry has changed/innovated, quite a bit in the past decade. I'm confidant that if you post your views on say FlyerTalk, people will back up my points.
1. https://spgpromos.com/internet/?action=main.faq