Hotel Rip-Offs

On a recent trip we stayed at an upscale National hotel chain in a room that cost $159.00 a night. This hotel felt compelled to charge us $10.00/day for Internet service and they count it down to the second! When I tried to buy the second day of service my room was "Blocked Out" and it took three phone calls to the front desk before I could give them another $10 to check our E-Mails. The worst part about it was the fact that it wasn't even wireless Internet service!   Regal 8, Motel 6 and other budget motel/hotels offer FREE wireless Internet and their room rates run from $45 - $75, so what am I missing? It is certainly not the hotel's cost of the Internet service.   I finally asked a manager of one of these pricey hotels why they choose to charge their guests so much for Internet service. His response was.."because we can"!   They assume that most of their guests are traveling on business, with an expense account,  and their employers don't seemed to mind paying extra for Internet service.   The Manager said if enough people complained about it, they might consider lowering or eliminating these ridiculous fees. Needless to say, my campaign has begun.   In the meantime I have found that it never hurts to search for other wireless networks in the area. Sometimes you just get lucky.