OP, even some of the hotels that don't require a username and password for WiFi still present a challenge screen for you to press CONNECT.
Originally Posted by
kennycrudup
Also consider buying one of those cheap portable routers (I like the GL-iNet devices, have several- take a look at the "Travel Technology" forum, too). That way you have the router associate to the hotel's WiFi, then on your personal device (laptop, phone, iPad) you connect to your router, then you bring up the webpage on the personal device then authenticate to the hotel. Because the hotel thinks the router has associated OK, any devices you have connected to the router (work laptop, streaming stick, other devices) are also authenticated automatically.
Devices run like $30 and if you get a battery-operated one it'll work on airplanes too.
The above is excellent advice. I have one of these and use it extensively for connecting to hotel and inflight WiFi in order to share the connection with multiple devices.
If you don't want to get one of these you can achieve the same thing with an Android device. Connect it to the WiFi and then share the WiFi with your laptop.