Managing Biz Travelers’ Wi-Fi Costs
by Fred Gebhart /This is the third story in a series on hotel Wi-Fi policies
Free hotel Wi-Fi will make business travelers happier, but what does it mean for travel spend? Like most financial questions, it depends.
The most important variable is how much a company is currently spending on hotel Wi-Fi. Many companies don’t know because most hotels fail to break out Wi-Fi and other ancillary charges in the folio detail forwarded to travel managers.
“Your Wi-Fi spend will change as hotels move to free Wi-Fi, but how much your spend will change depends on a lot of factors,” said Sean Bloomer, head of business development for business analytics specialist Prime Numbers.
“Wi-Fi is one of those soft dollar categories that is tough to break out at the property level, like parking or breakfast.”
Negotiating Wi-Fi
Road warriors probably qualify for free Wi-Fi through their hotel loyalty program membership, Bloomer said. Less frequent travelers are more likely to be hit with nightly charges.
At the same time, a growing number of companies have negotiated free Wi-Fi into their corporate rates.
Eric Jongeling, director of the hotel solutions group Americas at Carlson Wagonlit Travel, said 93% of CWT clients have negotiated Wi-Fi into their hotel rates for 2015. That’s up from 83% in 2014.
But just because a corporate rate includes free Wi-Fi doesn’t mean companies aren’t paying for Wi-Fi. Like breakfast and other negotiated features, compliance is always a question.
Not every traveler whose rate includes free Wi-Fi knows it and not every hotel includes it.
A non-issue
The problem, like other ancillary costs such as airline baggage fees or rental car insurance, is identifying inappropriate charges and getting them reversed.
But unlike many ancillary fees, Wi-Fi compliance will become a non-issue as free becomes the norm.
“Free is the trend we’re seeing in hotel Wi-Fi,” Jongeling said. “At the very least, Wi-Fi will become something you don’t have to consider in your hotel negotiations for next year.
“It will already be part of basic hotel services.”
Meetings—a more complex picture
The picture is less clear for meetings and events.
Marriott International made waves in 2014 after it paid a $600,000 fine to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) for blocking customers’ personal wireless modems and hotspots at its Gaylord Opryland property in Nashville.
Marriott settled the FCC complaint, but then asked the FCC to issue rules that would allow it to go back to jamming customer wireless modems and hotspots.
The American Hospitality & Lodging Association (AH&LA) supported Marriott’s request.
In December, Microsoft, Google and other tech companies filed their own comments with the FCC opposing Wi-Fi jamming.
Marriott cited security concerns as the reasons for jamming customer-owned hotspots and modems. And the company said it only wanted to jam customer-owned communications in meeting and event spaces, not in hotel guest rooms, lobbies and other public spaces.
Another blocking request
The FCC rejected a similar Wi-Fi blocking request by Logan Airport in Boston in 2006. The airport cited security concerns from Wi-Fi networks operated in airline club lounge.
Opponents said the airport was simply trying to stifle competition. The FCC could announce a decision on Marriott’s request sometime this year.
“The effort to cloak this as a security issue is kind of silly,” Harold Feld, senior vice president of public knowledge, a consumer advocacy group, told the Wall Street Journal. “Hotels make a lot of money, particularly from the leasing of convention Wi-Fi.”
The Gaylord charged $250 to $1,000 for groups to use in-house Internet and Wi-Fi services in its conference areas.
“Marriott has softened their original position in blocking customer Wi-Fi devices,” said Robert Cole, founder of business travel consultants Rock Cheetah.
“Now they only want to jam Wi-Fi in their conference spaces,” he said. “It doesn’t ring true. If it’s a security issue, it’s the same issue whether you are in a guest room, the lobby, or the conference center.
“It is just as easy to spoof a hotel Wi-Fi system sitting in the lobby as it is from an exhibitor booth on the show floor if that’s what you want to do.”
Be vigilant
Business travelers owe it to themselves and their companies to be as vigilant online while they are traveling as when they are in the office, Cole said.
Free Wi-Fi doesn’t change the need for online security. Using a virtual private network (VPN) is always a good idea, an idea that more companies are adopting, he added.
“Hotels need to beef up the security on their networks,” Cole said. “That’s the reality whether Wi-Fi is free or pay-for. Hotel networks have to be robust and reliable and secure.”
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Wi-Fi Woes at Marriott International