Considered as a reputable corporation, Marriott is an established brand known for its hotels and lodging accommodations. Therefore, I was quite shocked when I came across Danni Liu’s blog post that analyzed Marriot’s tactic of charging for customers’ wifi usage by deliberately disabling personal hotspots.

While I concur with Danni’s opinion on the impact of Marriott’s “short-sighted” decision – the hotel’s action will not only face charge of fines, its action is also detrimental to its own brand image, I was curious towards the nature of Marriott’s action. The news article has inspired me to conduct further research into the relationship between Internet services and hotels.

The usage of personal hotspot has became an increasingly popular alternatives for hotel guests due to factors such as overpriced wifi or slow Internet speed. Although personal hotspot has offered convenience for the consumers, it has impacted the hotel businesses greatly as it is gradually taking over the business’ profitable segmentation. As tech gadgets such as laptops have become essential items for guests, the Internet services offered by the hotel has become one of consumer’s main concerns when choosing an accommodation. A hotel with free and fast wifi often possesses advantage over its competitors. Therefore, instead of charging a high price for wifi, lodging facilities and hotels should focus on making advancement in their provided Internet services as a strategy to increase profitability.

Sources of Images (in order):

(http://media-cdn.tripadvisor.com/media/photo-s/01/6a/ed/24/manila-marriott-hotel.jpg)

(http://londonhotelsinsight.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/WiFi-is-like-water-and-electricity.jpg)

(http://thepointsguy.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/02/Free-Wifi.png?16593d)