An association I am a member of is holding their annual conference at the Ritz-Carlton in Sarasota in early August. Last year we live-blogged the event with much success. This year we want to repeat the online conference coverage. One problem, the cost of wifi at the Ritz.
The cost for wifi in a conference room is $300 per single-user, per day. Now this isn't for a speaker or for general use, it's for one person to be able to sit in the audience and use wifi. Now there is a break for additional users, they add $50 per user/per day. With the event lasting three days, the total cost for wifi for three people will be $1600. I don't even want to know what it would cost to enable wifi for everybody in the room.
Ridiculous? Of course, but too often it's standard practice at conference space. I think that when negotiating any contracts with a conference hotel, wifi should be provided as a base service. If you can't do it, then don't even submit a bid.
A fellow conference blogger said this:
It’s ironic that the hotels charge so much and yet our blogging actually is promoting their hotel. Think of the pictures we posted in last year’s conference blog… golf course, beachfront views, decorated ballrooms… all free advertising for the hotel.P.S. Another fun wifi pet-peeve, paying for wifi in my room, then having to pay for it again in the conference room.
Visitor Comments
What a rip.
You can rent my EVDO for only $200 each.
Posted by: Alex Rudloff | May 24, 2007 9:27 AM
Yup, EVDO is the answer. I don't pay for WiFi anywhere on the road now. A real life saver and wallet protector!
Posted by: Chip Griffin | May 24, 2007 9:35 AM
I've been considering EVDO for a while now, the only thing that's held me back is a possible new laptop purchase. I don't want to buy a PCMCIA card then have to buy and ExpressCard later.
Posted by: Josh Hallett | May 24, 2007 10:56 AM
Get yourself an EVDO card or a 3G phone that tethers via USB cable. For $50 a month on Cingular you can have an unlimited connection with decent speeds for blogging in most major areas.
Even if you go with a card based solution like Spring or Verizon you will spend less money than if you pay $10 per night at a hotel and travel a lot.
Posted by: Rob Safuto | May 24, 2007 3:51 PM
Josh: could not agree more. I recall rehearsing for a client event at a major property with a hefty bill for rooms, F&B, conference spaces, including the main ballroom. In setting up the AV, we needed to check some sources on the Internet. Even with all that commitment, the hotel wanted $300 to let us log in through their wireless. All that we needed was 10 minutes. But the manager said no.
Posted by: John Mallen | May 30, 2007 12:53 AM
I've had the good fortune of having an EVDO card on two trips to Chicago. With all the traveling you do, Josh, it is probably a good way to go.
On the hotel side, many of the hotels are in older buildings and have not invested in retrofitting wi-fi hotel wide (or even in the conference facilities) yet. They will generally add most anything a/v-wise to a conference room at cost plus. (The nicer the hotel, the bigger the plus.)
We ran into the same challenge when we were organizing SOBCon. The hotel we went with was nice, and newer (Sofitel O'Hare). They partnered with T-Mobile to supply their wireless services. It was only $10 a day for any attendee. Whether they stayed in the hotel or not it was just one charge.
Posted by: Chris Cree | June 3, 2007 7:51 AM