The low-cost value end of the market can be cut-throat – with Travelodge and Premier Inn two of the bigger chains fighting it out in the United Kingdom.
Premier Inn is making a slightly different play. Whilst Travelodge offers 30 minutes of WiFi free, then £3 of WiFi for 24 hours of access – Premier Inn will be offering a two tier offering of WiFi.
The basic offering will be free of charge, whilst a “premium” option, offering what the hotel chain calls “up to 8x Speed” compared the the basic package (although what the basic speed is and what the “ultimate” speed is has not been revealed).
The premium package will be priced £5 a day, and allow three devices to connect to the service for that charge.
There will be two visible hotspots:
- Premier Inn Free Wi-Fi
- Premier Inn Ultimate Wi-Fi
Premier Inn has hotels across the United Kingdom, Ireland, Dubai, Abu Dhabi and India. Whilst they don’t offer a traditional loyalty programme, it does target travellers in the place that they appreciate the most… and that’s their wallet.
Whilst more hotels begin to offer free WiFi as an amenity on stays, it’s important to remember that as well as the speed of the Wireless Network (which you can measure using SpeedTest and other tools), there is also the quality of the network -such as drop-outs, buffering times and general load times when browsing sites (which is a bit more difficult to measure).
Although another hotel offering free WiFi is never a bad option – keeping the bigger chains (and those who charge at their more luxurious hotels) in check.
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