CY looking to charge for internet?
 

Just finished a survey about internet service at the CY and then they asked if I thought the following was a good value... Depends on what the speeds are and if they are not willing to post them, then no it is not a good value.

I will be pissed if they cap the free net and start charging for the crappy net they have now.

http://img256.imageshack.us/img256/4949/cycharging.png

Are you trying to give FTers another reason to hate CY? :D

I wonder if Marriott allows hotels to implement a tiered internet service, will they follow SPG's approach and force hotels to offer the highest service to Plats for free? Or will they allow hotels to only offer their lowest service free to Plats (and/or free to everyone else as well)?

I've been to a couple properties lately that had tiered Internet service. At log in, there was an explicit warning that Plats and Golds did NOT get the faster service for free. One was the Augusta FS. I don't remember the second off the top of my head.

+1
I did a similar survey for CY today, but the speeds and rates where different.

Connect Free.. Connect Plus 4.95

Our company policy is strict about not paying for internet, I will definitely make changes as needed to avoid charges. If platinum gets free top tier it won't really matter.

Most service now is at or below 1mb which is too slow to stream Netflix without buffering. If the free tier is a .20mb service then it will be terrible.

Got a similar survey a few weeks ago and voted that I would not pay extra for internet.

Some CYs have been doing tiered service for at least 5 years. The "free" service was crappy, but I had much worse service at a TPS - so bad, in fact, that it was the reason that pushed me over the edge to buy an aircard/MiFi.

Guess they're trying to find a way to monetize the $650K per hotel that they've put into renovations.

I've got a Verizon Wireless card that works virtually everywhere and usually has better service than the hotel.

My Brother-in-Law has a Virgin pay-as-you-go device that is running him $20/month. He was RAVING about it last week. I've known this man for over 25 years, and I've rarely seen him so enthusiastic about something. He brought it up out of nowhere, so obviously he is very happy with it. The device creates a hot spot, so it can be used with various devices at the same time.

It's 2012. There are inexpensive options available.

I know one European property was looking to do a tiered thing, but think they were going to try it to specific users/guests - ie, you're streaming a lot/creating a bottleneck, so if you want to continue there's an additional fee. If you don't want to pay, then we'll keep you at the current but throttle back. Something like that.

At the time I mentioned it in a thread Marriott FTers were supportive of that, because those who were hogging the bandwidth had to pay for it & those who weren't continued to use the free. I don't know if it was ever implemented, however, or what the logistics are by doing it by guest.

Cheers.

At my most recent stay at the Mtl Chateau Champlain - where they have 3 choices, 'light' internet for free and 2 pay options - I was specifically told that as a Gold member I WOULD get the pay option for free. Don't know if they would have cancelled the charge had I picked the highest option, but no charge appeared for the lower pay option that I did select.

I know CY Berlin is doing something like that. They offered free wired internet to everyone which I read from TA people said it's hopeless. They offer Gold/Plat wireless internet for free (I think it costs something like 9,90 EUR per day if you are not elite - sept 2011's price), which is pretty fast.

Wow..i can see having tiers..BUT i can't see giving basic internet free to all if they're going to make G/P/PP pay for faster speeds..sounds like continued dilution of the "benefits" of Elite membership.....

try as i might to move nights away...not working.....other brands rates are either too high, there aren't any hotels..the ones that are where i go are lousy....arrgh....

I've seen this at several RIs.

psst.... www.tether.com .... pass it on ;)

I stopped paying my carrier for tethering a few months ago and never looked back....(I'm using tether on my ATT BB, no issues)