Paying for the Internet?

[autumnpalm]

We just got back from a six night stay at the Poly on the 23rd, and my brother brought up something I found interested. Even though we were paying close to five hundred dollars a night for accommodation, it costs an additional ten dollars a night for internet!

Even at the Motel 6 we stayed at overnight after a plane delay had FREE wireless.

At the prices Disney charges for deluxe accommodations, I think they should definitely offer more amenities. We've stayed value before and I an see not providing internet at value rates, but when we are paying literally thousands of dollars for one week in a standard room, could they not allow us to use their internet connection without adding one more fee anywhere they can??

I know the reason Disney can charge what they do for resorts that don't measure up to other outside WDW at the same rates (location) and believe me, I happily spend the money to be able to sit on the beach watching fireworks. But all the same, it's little things like this that make me feel like I'm being nickled and dimed at every corner in Disney.

We absolutely loved the Poly and had such a great experience that we are heading back in May to stay at the Yacht Club and can't wait to be in our happy place once again. For the memories we made, the trip was priceless.

But I still can't help but wonder why the fee for internet access?!

 

[jenndisney]

But I still can't help but wonder why the fee for internet access?!

Because people are willing to pay for it. When people stop paying, they will either shut it down (would never happen) or offer it for free. Disney makes alot of money each night on these. I agree it should be free like it is at the contemporary, but until they change it, we will pay when DH has to log in and fix a fire at work.

 

[ColoradoDis]

I've noticed that this is a problem all over the country for higher-priced hotels. I usually stay at one of the Hilton Hotel properties. At the lower-priced Hampton Inn or the Hilton Garden Inn, access to the Internet is free. At the Embassy Suites or a Hilton, it is about $10 per 24 hours. Parking is generally treated the same way also.

I agree it's really frustrating to pay a lot for a room and then feel like they are just adding on the fees.

 

[DebbieB]

I've noticed that this is a problem all over the country for higher-priced hotels. I usually stay at one of the Hilton Hotel properties. At the lower-priced Hampton Inn or the Hilton Garden Inn, access to the Internet is free. At the Embassy Suites or a Hilton, it is about $10 per 24 hours. Parking is generally treated the same way also.

I agree it's really frustrating to pay a lot for a room and then feel like they are just adding on the fees.

I've found the same also, the high end hotels charge for internet and parking while budget hotels provide it free. Why? Because they can. If you were looking for a hotel in the low end category, like a Motel 6, offering free internet may sway you to stay there. I doubt there are too many people who book offsite because Disney charges for internet and an offsite hotel gives it free. It's the same as some airlines. You pay hundreds of dollars for a ticket and they charge you fees to check a bag and have a soft drink or snack on the plane. USAir even charges for water in coach.

 

[portocall]

Too many people are willing to pay it despite hollering about it, and the WDW has a great return rate so it isn't keeping people away. Once it does, you will see it for free. We decided to bring our laptop and are willing to pay for it some days (but not everyone) just because DH and I will need our fix. I agree that the lower end uses free access to help sway those on the fence their way.

 

[dburg30]

This needs to be one of those stickies.

You dont have to pay for Inet, you can use dial up for free if you find a local ISP that has a local connection number, earthlink I think has a 30 day free trial that you could use. A lot of folks have cell phones with data plans. If so, a number of those can be used as a modem connected to a laptop.

DVC members staying on points at a DVC resort dont pay for inet.

As others have said many 'cheap' hotels will offer free internet to get people to stay there, WDW needs no such perk given. I've stayed at a motel with 'free wifi' and could barely get a signal at all. They had some cheaper wireless router hooked up and that was the free part My cell connection was about 5x faster So, remember, free doesnt mean it will work very well.

I think there is a certain class of rooms at the CR that has computers that are 'free' in the rooms, just dont know where you can go on them.

 

[Lynne M]

That's not the way the hotel industry works...everything costs more at the higher-end hotels. Food, services, internet. The Marriotts and Hiltons don't give out freebies because you paid a lot for the room. They assume you'll pay a lot for other services as well. Disney is relatively cheap in terms of internet usage, I believe it was $16.95 a night the last time I stayed in NYC, and a friend recently paid $19.95 a night in SF.

Cheap motels like the Motel 6 give you free internet because they need to bait people into staying there. You'll often see free internet at the cheap places, especially ones that cater to business travelers, who may be on tight expense budgets. It's a competitive advantage for them.

Disney doesn't need the competitive advantage. No one's going to choose to stay offsite because Disney charges you for internet. If it's not a deciding factor in choosing your hotel, why should they give it away?

 

[mbanks21]

Thats because Motel 6 has to compete with 100 other hotel chains. If you want you can just stay at Motel 6 and take their monorail to the Magic Kingdom...

 

[kaytieeldr]

So, how do you decide which Guests at the Deluxe resorts get free Internet and which have to pay?

A Guest staying at the Beach club during Value season on the 4/3 special is paying $257 per night for a standard room. A Guest at Animal Kingdom Lodge in a comparable room is paying $151 a night - that's only two dollars more than the rack rate for a Moderate resort. Is it fair for those people to get the same amenities as a Guest paying rack rate? How about the pool? Should discount/promo BC Guests be restricted to the quiet pool, or to only inconvenient lounge chairs at SAB?

What about the Guest who finds a 40% discount on the room, say AP? The BC Guest is paying $201, the AKL Guest is paying $144 - LESS than the CBR Guest. Or is the original post just a proposal nickel-and-dime Value resort Guests?

dburg is correct - dial-up exists. Guests finding $9.95 too exhorbitent are free (no pun intended) to research providers in advance and access the Internet the old-fashioned way.

 

[mmcxiiad]

I have a friend who runs a company that owns many hotels. I have asked him this question before and he has given me several reason for why some hotels charge for internet:

1. Many hotel who were early adopters for in room internet paid big money to get them wired. For a long time they paid that expense by then passing some of the fee along to guests. Although, even after the cost are long paid, people are still willing to pay the bill, so why drop it?

2. The cost to implement wireless networks is much cheaper (and often times less secure) then wired ones. Bigger hotels usually do wired ones. New construction is doing it built in and much easier to do.

3. Many people who stay in these bigger hotels are traveling for business, and the company picks up the tab for the internet. Smaller hotels are more of a mix of business and personal travelers.

4. Charging for internet allows you to have better quality internet. Basically, when internet is free, everyone uses it. Regardless of how fast the connection is to the hotel, it can easily get over saturated and suffer from pretty slow speeds per user. You also get more people who are willing to do things on the network that uses a lot of bandwidth (downloading big files, playing games, etc). Where as charging for internet, means that you will probably less users connected at once - which means better per user speeds.


I am not personally advocating any of theses reasons, but this is the rational from a hotel owner's point of view. Keep in mind that internet is never free at a hotel. there are 2 ways internet is charged - either per user who wants to pay for it, or spread out over every room. So in those hotels that it is free, it is really just factored into the cost of every room.

I am sure that if Disney raised the price of every room by $5 for complementary internet, many people would be thrilled, and many people would be upset that they are paying for something that they can't/won't/don't need or want. Obviously they wouldn't say that that, but i say it to make a point.

Another thing to consider: Most hotels (Disney included) use an outside company to maintain the internet and that is not free. Plus, as has been mentioned, people are willing to pay for internet and it is a high profit item.

Besides, there are certain things that exist in the general hotel world that are very skewed - cost for long distance phone calls, costs for food (both in the restaurants and room service), even the price of rooms (I am about to stay in a hotel in San Francisco for work that the standard room rate was $350... 2 weeks later I got exact same room for $130).

My guess is Disney, like any other vacation provider, has a very strong push on how "affordable" the initial bottom line is for a family. Like those commercials where a family of 4 can go for a week for $1600. But it is Disney's goal that once you get there that they try to squeeze every additional dollar they can get out of you.

I don't want to make the magic disappear for anyone... just pointing out that the ability to make the magic isn't cheap.

 

[Disneyadore]

Please don't complaint

I just paid $ 14 for three hours Internet in Disney Land Paris.

 

[Brian Noble]

Usually, the higher the room rate, the more expensive the internet access is, Disney or not.

 

[Lewisc]

Expensive hotel generally offer more expensive amenities.

Less expensive hotels frequenly include free parking, complimentary internet, complimentary breakfast, free use of a work out room and may offer a food court or some other low cost food option.

More expensive hotels are more likely to charge for parking (sometimes valet), offer $$ room service, $$$ expensive restaurants, charge for internet, have more expensive stores in the lobby, charge for use of health club have a spa and are less likely to offer budget food alternatives.

More expensive hotels don't necessarily give you more but they do give you the opportunity to purchase $$$ more amenities.

 

[autumnpalm]

Ahh okay. Got the internet logic. Thanks, now I won't be so grumpy next time I hook up the internet in my Disney room.

And $14 for three hours? Ouch!

 

[mmcxiiad]

something interesting to consider about dialup - yes you can find a free month of access, but if I remember correctly disney charges 75¢ per phone connection (local or long distance). So even if you are dialing in locally to the isp, you are still paying something.

Now it has been a while since I have used dial up, but as far as I remember, connections could be quite temperamental, so if you keep getting disconnected or log on and off a lot... well you may be better just paying the $10 per day and enjoying the faster connection. Obviously, this may vary from person to person.

For me, I bring an airport express (but any small router would work) so I don't have to be tethered to the desk. Also this allows me to connect my laptop & iphone and my wife's laptop to the internet without having to swap out who is connected at any one time. But I am smart enough to use a good (and I mean really good) WPA2 password. No need to share it with the neighbors.

 

[dburg30]

There have been numerous posts recently that if it is truly a local number, there is no charge for the call. And unless the system is set up to disconnect after a certain time or after a certain amount of inactivity, unless the phone lines themselves suck, shoudlnt have any connection issues. When I had crappy dial up service, I would stay connected for days at a time some times..

 

[Tiffany]

Because people are willing to pay for it. When people stop paying, they will either shut it down (would never happen) or offer it for free. Disney makes alot of money each night on these. I agree it should be free like it is at the contemporary, but until they change it, we will pay when DH has to log in and fix a fire at work.

The wired in room internet connection at the CR is free?