Why Don'T Thai Hotels Offer Free Wi Fi?

[taninthai]

Expats live here so they should have their own laptop and Internet connection

Tourists are a different story I find some tourists are to obsessed with the Internet they are supposed to be on holiday can't they go without for a couple of weeks

[thaibeachlovers]

Expats live here so they should have their own laptop and Internet connection

Tourists are a different story I find some tourists are to obsessed with the Internet they are supposed to be on holiday can't they go without for a couple of weeks

I'd change "some tourists" to "most tourists". Certainly the gap year dreadhead crowd, seem unable to travel anywhere without a computer ( with wifi ), mobile phone, and various other electronic toys that they consider essential for life. Wonder how they'll get on if suddenly it all stops working. LOL. Bunch of headless chickens, I reckon.

[nocturn]

I've stayed at a number of medium priced hotels (1000 baht/night) in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand and very few if any offer free wi fi for the internet. I would think in a competitive market where there are almost as many hotels as tourists that free wi fi would be an attractor. I once had a fancy time share in Jomptien and it was the same thing... no internet. I've stayed at the Great Residence and the Queens Garden in Bangkok and neither offered internet sevice. In this modern world that is surprising. In the USA you can ge free wi fi at most any MacDonalds cafe.

Is it the same Thai system where when tourism drops, the common marketing ploy is to INCREASE prices?

Right now I'm sitting in the Hong Kong airport and it has free internet everywhere... including free wi fi.

Why don't you hong kong then next time instead of Thailand. Lol

On a serious note alot off hotels only have customers 5-6 months of the year they are not making a fortune therefor need to charge for everything they can simPle really.

My misses runs a resort had 1 laptop with one internet connection Internet charges 1 bht a minute customers are always saying why only 1 computer and Internet connection , well the dongle cost us 7500 bht then 900 bht a month then we have 2 iPhones which is another 1600 bht a month for Internet so we are spending over 2500 a month for Internet this is why it isn't frer

Sounds like you need to complain to the great overpriced ISP's here in Thailand then...

overpriced? i pay 60 bucks a month for a 30/3 Mbps connection. annually.

a basic true plan is 6-8mbps for 599?

as for taninthai, so by your reckoning, if you and the missus have poseur phones with excessively expensive data packages that should trickle down to the customer?

i get it.

[nocturn]

Expats live here so they should have their own laptop and Internet connection

Tourists are a different story I find some tourists are to obsessed with the Internet they are supposed to be on holiday can't they go without for a couple of weeks

who are you to dictate what a tourist should or should not require? why should they?

all i know is the first question ANY renter of my property asks is do you have internet. It is well worth 800 baht cat cdma charges to say yes.

the roi is certainly alot better than their next question -- do you have a pool?

[simon43]

I own a few, small hotels. All offer free wi-fi. I cannot imagine anyone actually willing to pay for wi-fi use at a hotel! The wi-fi router cost me 1,000 baht to buy/install and then 750 baht per month. That small cost cannot compare against the loss in room booking revenues if I didn't offer free wi-fi - not to mention the high likelyhood of some customers moaning at me for being such a tight a*se as to charge for wi-fi.

Hotel guests expect to have free wi-fi, just as they expect to have free toilet paper in their rooms.

Show me a hotel which is getting rich on charging out their wi-fi use.

Simon

[msg362]

I've stayed at a number of medium priced hotels (1000 baht/night) in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand and very few if any offer free wi fi for the internet. I would think in a competitive market where there are almost as many hotels as tourists that free wi fi would be an attractor. I once had a fancy time share in Jomptien and it was the same thing... no internet. I've stayed at the Great Residence and the Queens Garden in Bangkok and neither offered internet sevice. In this modern world that is surprising. In the USA you can ge free wi fi at most any MacDonalds cafe.

Is it the same Thai system where when tourism drops, the common marketing ploy is to INCREASE prices?

Right now I'm sitting in the Hong Kong airport and it has free internet everywhere... including free wi fi.

Why don't you hong kong then next time instead of Thailand. Lol

On a serious note alot off hotels only have customers 5-6 months of the year they are not making a fortune therefor need to charge for everything they can simPle really.

My misses runs a resort had 1 laptop with one internet connection Internet charges 1 bht a minute customers are always saying why only 1 computer and Internet connection , well the dongle cost us 7500 bht then 900 bht a month then we have 2 iPhones which is another 1600 bht a month for Internet so we are spending over 2500 a month for Internet this is why it isn't frer

Why not get a landline, wireless router?

Are you away from landlines?

[Semper]

I find the US the worst for this. There always seems to be a charge when I go back for an annual visit. Free wifi isn't a common thing in Honolulu which is a major tourist destination; although, it is definitely aimed at the higher end of the market.

Almost all the mid-range chains offer free wifi in the US now. The Hamptons, Homewood Suites, Holiday Inn Expresses, and the like.

As a couple of posters already mentioned. It's already included in the price. There is no such thing as free this or free that.

[taninthai]

I've stayed at a number of medium priced hotels (1000 baht/night) in Bangkok and other cities in Thailand and very few if any offer free wi fi for the internet. I would think in a competitive market where there are almost as many hotels as tourists that free wi fi would be an attractor. I once had a fancy time share in Jomptien and it was the same thing... no internet. I've stayed at the Great Residence and the Queens Garden in Bangkok and neither offered internet sevice. In this modern world that is surprising. In the USA you can ge free wi fi at most any MacDonalds cafe.

Is it the same Thai system where when tourism drops, the common marketing ploy is to INCREASE prices?

Right now I'm sitting in the Hong Kong airport and it has free internet everywhere... including free wi fi.

Why don't you hong kong then next time instead of Thailand. Lol

On a serious note alot off hotels only have customers 5-6 months of the year they are not making a fortune therefor need to charge for everything they can simPle really.

My misses runs a resort had 1 laptop with one internet connection Internet charges 1 bht a minute customers are always saying why only 1 computer and Internet connection , well the dongle cost us 7500 bht then 900 bht a month then we have 2 iPhones which is another 1600 bht a month for Internet so we are spending over 2500 a month for Internet this is why it isn't frer

Why not get a landline, wireless router?

Are you away from landlines?

Because we live on a secluded beach with no water or electric supply so obviously there is no land lines either to the other replies to my post yes we have 2 iPhones so we don't really need the cat dongle it was just bought for customer use and as stated cost us a fair bit off money we sell cheap rooms so therefor Internet is not free.

Another reason we don't do free Internet is because customers will then sit their all night I'm talking till 1 in the morning playing on the Internet not buying any drinks and all the time wr are waiting to shut up shop and go to bed.

Really is another pointless topic anyway and yet another huge generalisation saying thai hotels don't have free Internet when in fact there is probably more that do than don't.

[CharlieH]

How dare they charge, anyone would think they were running a business.

[CharlieH]

I own a few, small hotels. All offer free wi-fi. I cannot imagine anyone actually willing to pay for wi-fi use at a hotel! The wi-fi router cost me 1,000 baht to buy/install and then 750 baht per month. That small cost cannot compare against the loss in room booking revenues if I didn't offer free wi-fi - not to mention the high likelyhood of some customers moaning at me for being such a tight a*se as to charge for wi-fi.

Hotel guests expect to have free wi-fi, just as they expect to have free toilet paper in their rooms.

Show me a hotel which is getting rich on charging out their wi-fi use.

Simon

But Simon, I suspect you are not Thai, you have applied western logic etc, but Thais dont.

[inthepink]

Are you going to blame Thai logic for the fact that Western-owned hotel chains charge for WiFi in Bangkok then?

[chrisinth]

Truthfully, it is laziness on the hotel owners in this day and age. As has been mentioned, the majority of the higher level hotels charge a very expensive fee for internet and again in this era, very hard to justify.

With the availability of wireless routers and access points readily available, there should be no excuse not to provide free wi-fi. There is practically no networking to be done.

If the hotel is using the internet connection for business, then providing a service will cost them bandwidth restriction only on their connection. If it becomes too much, get another line!

I dont understand how it is laziness.

It is the freemarket. To argue that it is unjustifiable for large hotels to charge for it is nonsense - they charge for it because there are enough people willing to pay for it. If there weren't it wouldnt exist. It's self-evident. It doesn't matter how much it costs the hotel to provide it - that's a bogus argument. It costs next to nothing for Apple to make an iPhone, but they are able to command $600 for each unit because . . . . . wait for it . . . there are enough people out there willing to pay that much for it.

As with iPhones, so with hotels and free wifi.

Well, you seem to have covered the bases there. No comeback from here on that argument!

Edited March 29, 2012 by chrisinth

[GreenSnapper]

Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia have free Wifi almost everwhere.

In Thailand I have mobile internet. Even if it is still often GPRS, it works almost everywhere.

[inthepink]

I'm quite glad when hotels charge outrageous prices for Internet access - gives me a good excuse to take the day off.

[vtjforyou]

I cannot stand anymore all these retarded business owners who ask to pay for WIFI internet.

And I never have to pay for it as I only select places where WIFI is free.

Very easy, just check on Agoda or others booking websites.

[2unique]

Those high end overcharging hotels where you spend 5-14k for a very nice well appointed room were among the first to even provide broadband services. Like most early adopters they paid over the top so bought in bulk for a lower price. Having not seen their provider agreement I'm unsure of length but they costed it out over a number of years they are/were locked in on that contract and can't/couldn't go and buy a simple router and True so that you can get your free Facebook.

Just something to consider when expertly judging by your own private standards and today's prices w/out considering the market history.

Their business users have been paying for years and will keep paying no one is forcing anyone to stay anywhere w/out free amenities. You CAN stay in an 800 baht room with wifi the size of the bathroom of your room in the Oriental but the important thing is that YOU get to choose, how awesome is that?!?

Seriously we've been bitching about the cost of connecting since it cost 5p a minute in UK but was free in America, I guess we will always find something to complain about however complaining about the cost of connecting in a place we're not even going to stay in is a tad dramatic.

Sent from Android please excuse errors in type or judgement

[2unique]

Truthfully, it is laziness on the hotel owners in this day and age. As has been mentioned, the majority of the higher level hotels charge a very expensive fee for internet and again in this era, very hard to justify.

With the availability of wireless routers and access points readily available, there should be no excuse not to provide free wi-fi. There is practically no networking to be done.

If the hotel is using the internet connection for business, then providing a service will cost them bandwidth restriction only on their connection. If it becomes too much, get another line!

I dont understand how it is laziness.

It is the freemarket. To argue that it is unjustifiable for large hotels to charge for it is nonsense - they charge for it because there are enough people willing to pay for it. If there weren't it wouldnt exist. It's self-evident. It doesn't matter how much it costs the hotel to provide it - that's a bogus argument. It costs next to nothing for Apple to make an iPhone, but they are able to command $600 for each unit because . . . . . wait for it . . . there are enough people out there willing to pay that much for it.

As with iPhones, so with hotels and free wifi.

Well, you seem to have covered the bases there. No comeback from here on that argument!

Check business plan, check P and L sheet, does paid/free wifi increase/decrease bottom line... Oh wait people on TV are complaining! Scrap business plan start again aiming to please all of the people all of the time...

Sent from Android please excuse errors in type or judgement

[brit1984]

I cannot stand anymore all these retarded business owners who ask to pay for WIFI internet.

And I never have to pay for it as I only select places where WIFI is free.

Very easy, just check on Agoda or others booking websites.

Why are they retarded?

For you free WIFI is important but for many people it is not.

As other posters have mentioned some people may prefer to ignore their emails while on holiday, and many people have 3G internet access through their iPhone, which they can then pass onto other devices with the "Personal Hotspot" feature.

These people may well search through Agoda (using the free Agoda app in the case of the latter) for hotels that do not have free WIFI so they can be sure the cost of this has not been implicitly included in the room rate.

By your logic, one could say they never pay extra for 5-star service because they only go to 5-star hotels.

I understand what you are really trying to say is that providing free WIFI access is really cheap so hotels that charge extra for it are just trying to make extra profit.

That does not mean the business owners are retarded, unless you are saying anyone who tries to make a profit is retarded.

Edited March 30, 2012 by brit1984

[bendix]

Are you going to blame Thai logic for the fact that Western-owned hotel chains charge for WiFi in Bangkok then?

Thaivisa's collective wisdom [sic] would blame Thai logic for the fact that Western-owned hotels charge for Wifi outside of Thailand too.

[2unique]

I understand what you are really trying to say is that providing free WIFI access is really cheap so hotels that charge extra for it are just trying to make extra profit.

Not directed at Brit1984

But is it really that cheap?

How many routers/repeaters on how many separate connections to make sure every room on every floor has a decent level of speed with security?

Can you then get that on a "home" plan?

Is it a feature or a benefit? Is it a loss leader, break even or additional income?

Are guests going to come because you have wifi or are they going to complain that the place down the road has faster wifi that can be used while on the toilet - so why stay at hotels with free slow wifi when paying a little bit extra can get you fast speeds!!

Edited March 30, 2012 by 2unique

[dominique355]

Some year ago, actually many years ago, we had the similar problem with phones in hotel rooms. Slowly the hotels put a phone wiith direct dialling in every room but charged horrendous fees for every call, even for local calls.

The customer's reply was to use their cell phone making the hotel phones obsolete.

Now it seems the hotels did not learn their lesson and again charge horrendous prices for slow and unreliable WiFi Internet access. Moreover, the setup of the multiple WiFi repeaters are often done so amateurish that no stable connection is possible. Walk from yoor room to the pool with your laptop running and you will see what I mean. Connection lost...

The worst I have experienced was at the Hilton in HuaHin where they tried to charge an access fee for each and every device connected to the Internet, phone, laptop, tablet etc. For each the full price!

The guest's answer can only be to use 3G or external WiFi access to the Internet making te hotel's WiFi equipment obsolete.

I believe in every room with a price above THB 1,000 per night, a free and strong Internet access shoud be included. And stop this nonsense with complicated logins, names, passwords, it's useless and only a pain in the a$$.

Besides the topic, but similar in nature, the charges for softdrinks from the room's minibar.

[dominique355]

Are you going to blame Thai logic for the fact that Western-owned hotel chains charge for WiFi in Bangkok then?

These chain hotel are actually owned by Thais, they pay a franchise for using the Western names.

But mostly, the GM is a Western guy, he should know...

[dominique355]

I own a few, small hotels. All offer free wi-fi. I cannot imagine anyone actually willing to pay for wi-fi use at a hotel! The wi-fi router cost me 1,000 baht to buy/install and then 750 baht per month. That small cost cannot compare against the loss in room booking revenues if I didn't offer free wi-fi - not to mention the high likelyhood of some customers moaning at me for being such a tight a*se as to charge for wi-fi.

Hotel guests expect to have free wi-fi, just as they expect to have free toilet paper in their rooms.

Show me a hotel which is getting rich on charging out their wi-fi use.

Simon

Simon, do yoou charge for drinks (soft drinks) from the minibar?

I just recently stayed in a great hotel in Puket (Patong) and all drinks from the Minibar were free. The GM (a nice Thai guy) told me that the hassle with guests checking out and the cashier having to check if he had a Coke last night, delaying the payment, making everybody uneasy if not upset, wasn't worth the value of a can of Coke. So in his hotel, in all rooms, Minibar was free. I think it's a great idea. Not only because I save 30 Baht, but also I don't have to buy these soft drinks in the next 7/11 to avoid overcharge and indeed, no hassle at check-out time.

[dave111223]

It really sours my mood when I go to a high end resort (5000 per night up) and they try to charge you some silly rate (like 300 baht per day!) for internet.

If they get like 5 guests use the internet one day and they have already covered the entire resort's internet bill for the month??

Seeing as the hotel already needs internet to function, it costs them nothing extra to have the guests using it. Except the initial cost of a few wireless routers.

Edited March 30, 2012 by dave111223

[bendix]

I own a few, small hotels. All offer free wi-fi. I cannot imagine anyone actually willing to pay for wi-fi use at a hotel! The wi-fi router cost me 1,000 baht to buy/install and then 750 baht per month. That small cost cannot compare against the loss in room booking revenues if I didn't offer free wi-fi - not to mention the high likelyhood of some customers moaning at me for being such a tight a*se as to charge for wi-fi.

Hotel guests expect to have free wi-fi, just as they expect to have free toilet paper in their rooms.

Show me a hotel which is getting rich on charging out their wi-fi use.

Simon

Simon, do yoou charge for drinks (soft drinks) from the minibar?

I just recently stayed in a great hotel in Puket (Patong) and all drinks from the Minibar were free. The GM (a nice Thai guy) told me that the hassle with guests checking out and the cashier having to check if he had a Coke last night, delaying the payment, making everybody uneasy if not upset, wasn't worth the value of a can of Coke. So in his hotel, in all rooms, Minibar was free. I think it's a great idea. Not only because I save 30 Baht, but also I don't have to buy these soft drinks in the next 7/11 to avoid overcharge and indeed, no hassle at check-out time.

Yes, business people always give things away for free, in the same way you go to work every day for free also.

Has it not occurred to you - somewhere deep inside the dim recesses of your reasoning - that they might adjust the price of the room to take these free things into account?

Not just once, perhaps?

[itishothere]

I own a few, small hotels. All offer free wi-fi. I cannot imagine anyone actually willing to pay for wi-fi use at a hotel! The wi-fi router cost me 1,000 baht to buy/install and then 750 baht per month. That small cost cannot compare against the loss in room booking revenues if I didn't offer free wi-fi - not to mention the high likelyhood of some customers moaning at me for being such a tight a*se as to charge for wi-fi.

Hotel guests expect to have free wi-fi, just as they expect to have free toilet paper in their rooms.

At last, a sensible reply! In todays world of Facebook, email, etc etc, most people expect this as a service, just like they expect the room to have a bed.

Surely, even in a small resort, operating at 50% occupancy, the cost per night to provide a basic internet connection is only a few Baht. So add that to the price. Using the earlier estimate of THB 2,500 per month cost, that probably is about THB 10-20. Or if it pi##es you off so much that you are giving it away free, make a nominal charge!

Or compare this with the cost of NOT having it. Every customer going somewhere else will lose you hundreds of THB a night in revenue.

Every year there are maybe a dozen places I do not go to, simply because they do not have internet. Or put another way, there are a dozen places I DO spend my money with.

[chrisinth]

As an aside, I always carry a dongle (DTAC in my case) when travelling through Thailand. Once the initial cost of the device is absorbed it is only a couple of hundred baht a month for (almost) nation wide coverage. If you are in a 3G covered area, then absolutely no complaints at all.

You're not going to download movies with the connection, but for emails and interaction sites, no problems.

[David48]

As an aside, I always carry a dongle ...

chrisinth

I'm not being smart ... but how does your dongle work?

I always try and go to hotels with free internet.

I just need connectivity ... not downloads, but this means many hours of connection.

I did 'Google' dongle and there wasn't much in the way of an answer there.

Costs etc?

[YipYipYa123]

It really sours my mood when I go to a high end resort (5000 per night up) and they try to charge you some silly rate (like 300 baht per day!) for internet.

If they get like 5 guests use the internet one day and they have already covered the entire resort's internet bill for the month??

Seeing as the hotel already needs internet to function, it costs them nothing extra to have the guests using it. Except the initial cost of a few wireless routers.

MORE LIKE 2 GUESTS

half of the hotels are on a basic (think cheapest) package they can get from the providor and they dopnt care

how slow it might be because guests have already paid to get the password befoe they can open a page and

find out how slow it realy is

appartemnts /condos are just as bad

sometimes charging 600-800 thb per month and maybe 20 rooms sharing a 599thb conection from true thats extended range via a bridge router etc

the profit is astronomical from internet raping in thailand

[bendix]

As an aside, I always carry a dongle ...

chrisinth

I'm not being smart ... but how does your dongle work?

I always try and go to hotels with free internet.

I just need connectivity ... not downloads, but this means many hours of connection.

I did 'Google' dongle and there wasn't much in the way of an answer there.

Costs etc?

It's a little device which slips into one of the USB slots - it's basically a 3G connection. You can buy them from the various telco / internet companies like DTAC or AIS, and there is a monthly fee which gives a range of different data allowances, usually from 500MB up to unlimited, depending upon the monthly fee.

By the way, are you using the same Google as me. There's a mass of information about dongles in Thailand there . . .

Edited March 30, 2012 by bendix