High Speed charges at Marriott properties.
 

All I can ask is why. I know there are benefits staying at Marriott Hotels, like upgrade to Concierge floor (as I am Plat). What irritates me is the cost for high speed when CYs, SHS, TPS and FIs do not charge. This makes me less incline to stay at Marriott locations.

What really honks me off is, by default, Marriott charges you for all days of your stay. So on a six-day stay at the Marriott Hotel and Marina in San Diego, I only used it three days, but paid for all six. You can do it "per day", but you need to coordinate with the front desk, which is a pain.

Every full service Marriott I stay at requires me to log-on and again sign-up for HS Internet on a daily basis. I've not seen a one-size-fits-all approach except on the rare occasion where you can pre-select/pre-pay "X" days in advance. An automatic charge for my entire stay is something I've yet to encounter.

It's free at the Fairfield Inns I stay at--- wireless, too.

I think this has been mentioned before - the lower end hotels provide a free zillion channels on the TV, free internet, etc., but the higher end ones seem to skimp on the extras, either making you pay for them or hoping to catch you on the pay-per-view, etc.

Not limited to Marriotts; they all seem to do this.

Well they charge you for making a local call at a Marriott, but its free at most of the other brands in addtion to have about 70 TV channels at a FI and 10 at a Marriott...

Most business people are going to expense the data charge- so I think they can get away with it. Most Marriotts include unlimited long distance calls with the high speed- to me its a good DEAL!

Me too
 

One of my biggest pet peeves about many of the "high end" chains is either non-availability or--worse yet--paying for high spped access, especially now when virtually all of the economy chains offer it free....

I do hope that market competition will kill this trend eventually, but right now it makes me crazy to pay an add-on if I'm paying lots more for the room than if I stayed at the "economy" chain.

per day vs. per stay charge
 

yep! and too at the JW Orlando Grande Lakes, you must let the front desk know that you only are going to use for a specific day or so or you will get charged for the entire stay!...and to top that insanity, if you choose to go to the business center instead, to use their h.s, the charge is 69 cents a minute or $41.40 an hour!! :mad:

At the San Diego Marriott and Marina, charges are applied for each day of the entire stay, regardless of whether or not you use it, though you must sign-in on a daily basis. :rolleyes:

Pontiac
 

The one full service Marriott where the hs access is free is the one in Pontiac, MI. The only issue is that only half the the rooms are wired so you have to ask specifically for one of the rooms that have hs.

Charges for wireless are common at the high end
 

Charges for internet access are common at the high end properties (Hilton, Hyatt, Wyndham, Marriott). However, if you are a Wyndham By Request member you can frequently put your WBR number in as the login and get the access for free.

As far as what are the benefits, there are the services at higher end properties (room service, turndown, 24-hour maid, onsite bar and restaurants). For now, at high end properties, charged internet is the standard. When someone breaks ranks and starts providing it on the high end for free to be more competitive, my bet is the others should join in.

If I only want to use the access for 1 day or a few days of a multiple stay ... I would communicate it to the front desk and confirm before checking out. I've had to do that with both internet access and parking (where I only parked a few days of a multi-day stay).

FWIW

The Concierge lounge at the Renaissance Suites hotel in St Louis has comp high speed.

All the rooms at the Meadowlands Ren in NJ have free hi-speed along with the business center. Free access to color printer in business center is also a plus!

I'm at the Denver West Marriott right now. When I called the desk to activate it I was asked if I wanted it just for today or my entire stay...

As one poster mentioned, I'm going to expense it. I'll make an extra 130 points/day. As long as it's not coming out of my pocket & I can get more done, why not? My dial out was a resounding 28.8 kps without it. No way. ;)

Manhattan Beach Residence Inn has free high speed.

AMS Marriott has free hi-speed in exec lounge - which a lot of folk are using because the charge in the room is 19.95Euro.