12 November 2008

Increased demand for holiday wifi access

Travel agents can increasingly expect customers to stipulate that their holiday accommodation has access to wifi as laptop, PDAs and smart phones become everyday items.

As the public begins to realise the hugely expensive cost of using 3G roaming abroad, suppliers ranging from hotel chains down to caravan and camp sites are clamouring to offer holidaymakers free or subsidised wifi.

Dave Hughes, director at BT Wireless Broadband which supplies wifi to airports, conference centres, hotels, restaurants, cafes and city centres across the UK, said: Ã¢â¬ÅâœThe issue of whether you can get wifi when on holiday is becoming more and more important to people.

"We are no longer in the days where only business travellers need internet access. These days itÃ¢â¬â¢s great for the kids to watch TV when they are bored at the airport, for keeping in touch with loved ones back home and for using ITunes on holiday.

Ã¢â¬ÅâœPeople have realised that it is amazingly expensive to use 3G roaming on their phone.

"I saw somewhere that a woman had to pay hundreds of pounds for her 3G bill because she was catching up with Coronation Street on holiday on her phone and didnÃ¢â¬â¢t realise how much it was costing her. When your resort provides wifi, this is not an issue.Ã¢â¬~

A recent BT openzone survey of 103 site partners including Hilton Hotels, Thistle Hotels and Ramada Jarvis found that 84% agreed that wifi added value for customers, 76% agreed that offering wifi stopped customers going to a competitor and 64% said it was now an essential component of their service.

by Dinah Hatch