Why paying for a more expensive hotel room means you have to pay again to get on the Net Responding to the Gripe Line post “Robbed for Internet access,” where Stanley complained about the high cost of Wi-Fi in high-end hotels — in particular, the Marriott — Tim offered a link to a blog post from Bill Marriott. According to Marriott:A lot of you sent me comments asking why we charge for high speed Internet access in some brands but not in others…In our full service hotels in the U.S. and in Canada, we will bundle, on request, high-speed with unlimited local and long distance phone calls for a flat rate. Meanwhile, high-speed and WiFi are complimentary at Courtyard, Residence Inn, Fairfield Inn, TownePlace Suites and SpringHill Suites.[ Also on InfoWorld: “Robbed for Internet access” | Frustrated by tech support? Get answers in InfoWorld’s Gripe Line newsletter. ] This is the very disparity that Stanley complained about: If he pays more for the room — because he travels for business — why does he get less service? Here is Mr. Marriott’s reason: Every business traveler demands fast access to the Internet. They’re also downloading and uploading larger files. And many of our hotels are often sold out. The combination can put a strain on the system. That’s why our approved high-speed vendors must be able to manage bandwidth so connections and downloads remain very fast.So we are to understand that Wi-Fi is a bigger expense for the high-end hotels than it is for the budget ones because more customers take advantage of it when it is offered, and this is a demanding crowd that wants the service to work. I don’t buy that. Do you?Mr. Marriott goes on:Soon, we’ll begin replacing high-speed connection boxes in our hotels. They’ll be more reliable and they’ll reduce guest complaints. But providing high-speed connections and service improvements must be paid for by each hotel, and it’s very costly. It affects the bottom lines of our hotel investors. Occasionally, we hear rumors that Marriott, or one of its competitors, is about to make high-speed free in full service hotels. In the end, they are just rumors.He sounds pretty certain that Wi-Fi will never be free in deluxe hotels, doesn’t he? (If I hadn’t just seen the movie “The Informant,” would this statement still make me wonder about price fixing?) As some of the comments on that post point out, maybe we should be happy the Marriott doesn’t charge every time we flush the toilet, use hot water, or iron our clothes — a few other essential business-travel services. A recent article in USA Today asserts, though, that complaining helps. Enough complaints might even spur hotels to change this money-grabbing policy. Luxury hotels are very likely losing customers — even business customers who can pay for a high-end hotel — to budget chains because of the hassle of connecting from a deluxe room. However, according to the article, if you call the front desk and say this policy angers you, that you are willing to return the high-end soaps left in the bathroom in exchange for Wi-Fi or that you plan to stay at another chain on your next trip, you might be able to get the fee waived.Personally I’m a fan of voting with my dollar, even if that dollar isn’t strictly mine. And there are some easy online sources for choosing hotels based on their Wi-Fi policy. That USA Today article offers a handy chart, and Wififreespot.com offers a searchable list of hotels that won’t charge you for Wi-Fi or — presumably — to flush.Got gripes? Send them to christina_tynan-wood@infoworld.com. Technology Industry