Marriott International says that 1,700 budget hotels will get free Wi-Fi by 2005: This year, 1,200 Courtyard, Residence Inn, TownePlace Suites and SpringHill Suites get unwired with free broadband for guests with 600 ready to go; next year, 500 Fairfield Inns. STSN is one of six providers that will wire and unwire the properties. Marriott confirmed that this includes public space Wi-Fi and in-room wired broadband.
The Marriott and Renaissance brands, however, aimed at business travelers and higher-end guests, will still charge $9.95 for a package that includes unlimited local and long-distance calls, and unlimited broadband.
Glenn, I've seen this Marriott "WiFi" story all over the Blogs today, but I can't find anywhere that Marriott actually said anything about free WiFi. The article you link to discusses them dropping the price of broadband to zero, but specifically discusses wired Ethernet. A quote from Marriott is, "While some other hotel chains are betting that wireless Internet access becoming the norm, Marriott is taking a wait and see approach."
best, Derek Kerton.
It's a combination of wired and wireless, and I think newer properties are choosing the cheaper method of Wi-Fi more often. I'll double check.
On my recent vacation I stayed for a few days at the new Courtyard Boston/Waltham. It had wired Internet in the rooms (with an Ethernet cable conveniently hanging in the wardrobe -- convenient because I'd left mine at home), but wireless access covering the lobby/lounge/business center.
On our return trip, we stayed in a Courtyard in Wallingford, CT; this was an older unit with no Internet access at all. As you suggest, it would probably be easier to hook this up wirelessly than run wires to the rooms (unless they were planning a renovation anyway).
$10/day for unlimited local and long-distance and wifi broadband is a good deal in my book. Vacation or business, I usually spend more than that on telco.