*** My experience concerns specifically the HIX in Aosta, Italy. But I haven’t mentioned in the title because other people might want to add similar experiences in other hotels to this thread. ***

A few weeks ago I decided to spend the weekend close to where I work instead of flying home, mainly to catch up on work. I chose the HIX in Aosta, Italy because generally HIX hotels are good places to get some work done.
To be honest, I did not check the availability of an Internet connection in this hotel. I actually stopped checking that about 2 years ago already because I now consider it a standard feature in any hotel belonging to a major chain.

[My definition of an Internet connection: the possibility of connecting my laptop, through wireless or network cable (preferably at high speed), payable on the room invoice or by credit card. Connecting through modem and phone line is not valid anymore because you need specific phone numbers for that (and I cancelled my AT&T worldwide account years ago because I never used it).]

When I arrived at the hotel I found out they did not offer any serious form of connecting (not even WiFi in the lobby for example) and so decided that there was no way I could stay there and do the work I wanted to do. And it was too late to cancel my reservation (paid with points).

I’ve called Priority Club (my first experience with their horrible new “talk to me” phone system) to see if they could make a gesture and refund the points. I offered to use them the same night in an hotel in nearby Torino. They claimed that it could be arranged but I never got a firm confirmation of this and the points have finally never been refunded.
So, in the end, I did drive to Torino. But instead of going to an ICH group hotel I went to a Starwood property and had a great weekend (and got my work done).

So, keep on checking for Internet connections if you need them, because it’s not yet a general standard (and you might end up losing money or points).

Update: just to be complete, I have seen that this morning that my points have been refunded (about 10 days after this happened). Thank you PC!