Have 802.11g, will travel: HotelChatter blog names the best hotels for Wi-Fi
I use Wi-Fi frequently in hotels. I prefer free over paid Wi-Fi, but as long as it works, I'm in.
With that in mind, I have been reading Best WiFi Hotels 2006, a lengthy post on the HotelChatter blog.
Boutique hotel chain Kimpton Hotels wins the top accolade among the higher-priced hotel segment. You'll never believe which chain won among economy operations. Holiday Inn Express, and I kid you not.
The link in the chains: both use WiFi services from Nomadix.
Here's what HotelChatter says about Kimpton:
Kimpton once again tops the list as the undisputed hotel WiFi kings. The brand improved their now legendary free WiFi service in the last couple of years, by extending their fast, reliable WiFi network to your upstairs room, at many hotels. Yup, at most Kimpton hotels you *can* actually sack out with your computer on the bed wireless and happy.
This scenario is oft-advertised by other hotel chains, but hardly ever a reality. Kimpton doesn't count on their lobby WiFi network to reach the top floors of their buildings, instead, at the hotels we visited, Kimpton actually had two separate WiFi networks--one for the lobby and the other for the guest rooms. Both networks are easily accessible by clicking on a standard terms and conditions. Furthermore, during our Kimpton visits, friendly staffers went out of their way to ask us if we were getting a good reliable WiFi signal in both the lobby and our room, and guess what? We were. Kimpton Hotels tend to appeal to business travelers, hip leisure travelers, and globe-trotting bloggers.
Uh, "business travelers, hip leisure travelers and globe-trotting bloggers.." time to break out the mirror again and look at my bad self :-)
Now for Holiday Inn Express."At the Holiday Inn Express in Los Angeles," the un-bylined HotelChatter blogger writes, "all that was required was an agreement to the hotel's terms and conditions and we were off. So if you don't mind staying at the Holiday Inn instead of some place more glamorous your money is well spent here."