Free WiFi can ‘make or break’ bookings

The Internet has become such an integral part of many people’s lives, that few can imagine going without it even when they’re travelling. In fact, the first thing that many travellers look for before booking a hotel or dining in a restaurant is if there’s a free WiFi connection.

And this is completely understandable. If your work or business relies heavily on the Internet, then you will obviously want to stay connected no matter where you are. This is to keep losses at a minimum and to make sure that operations are running as they should, even though you might be out of the office.

In fact, broadband is a huge deal especially in the tourism business. It has been reported that broadband notspots have a huge and noticeably negative effect in the industry, with more tourists getting off put at certain locations and destinations because of the lack of Internet connectivity.

This was further reaffirmed by findings from a survey conducted recently by Hotels.com. In fact, WiFi has been dubbed as a “make or break” factor for customers when they are booking a hotel room. The hotel amenities survey called on respondents to reveal what their favourite in-room perks and amenities were.

Around thirty-eight percent of the survey respondents said that a free WiFi connection in the room was a huge factor they considered before booking a room. Thirty-one percent also asserted that this perk should become a standard offering in all hotels by this year.

Taylor L. Cole, Director of PR & Social Media for Hotels.com, said: “Given the explosion of mobile use in the past few years, it is no surprise that travellers are requiring free and fast WiFi. Many guests never travel without their tablets, smartphones and laptops. It’s as intuitive as packing a toothbrush… it is only natural that they’d want to stay connected while in their hotel rooms.”