HHonors Diamond members can get free premium Wi-Fi at hotels like the New York Hilton Midtown. (Image: Hilton)
Hilton’s HHonors program has provided us with more information about the planned rollout this year of free premium Wi-Fi for Diamond-level members who book directly with the hotel group (or through an approved travel agency partner), which was originally announced in March.
The new Diamond perk will begin this month for Hilton’s Western Hemisphere properties, although it won’t start until August or September for Hiltons in the Europe/Middle East/Africa region and the Asia Pacific region.
“Also, Gold, Silver and Blue members will receive free standard Wi-Fi when booking through one of our propriety channels or via one of our approved travel agent partners,” a spokesperson said.
Here are the specifics she provided:
Rollout Timing
- Beginning in June 2015, premium Internet access, where available, will be rolled out globally and will be free of charge, for Diamond members who book directly. This offering will not be available until August through September in EMEA and APAC.
- Free standard Wi-Fi will continue to be a benefit for Hilton HHonors Gold members who also book directly through our proprietary Hilton channels one of our approved travel agent partners.
- Free standard Wi-Fi will be available on June 4, 2015 for all HHonors members who book directly at all StayConnected properties globally.
- The HHonors Terms and Conditions will be updated on June 4, 2015 to reflect these changes.
What are your thoughts about the difference between “premium” or “enhanced” versus “standard” hotel wi-fi? Is a standard connection enough for you? Please leave your comments below!
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This appears to be a “squeeze” on Gold members. If all HHonors members receive “free” Wi-Fi, the “free/regular” Wi-Fi network will become considerably slower. This really only helps Diamond members and/or those willing to pay for the faster speeds. Not an impressive move by Hilton. The Diamond and non-loyal HHonors members benefit, but the Gold, or mid-level road-warriors get nothing. Hotels are becoming like Airlines.
Hotels will be tinkering with these fees and charges for the next million years. Reminds me of when Motel 6 used to charge 25 cents to watch 6 hours of television on their coin-operated TV sets (Google it and see for yourself). It gave a whole new meaning to “pay TV.”
But this issue will fade quickly. After cell phones became ubiquitous, people stopped using phones in hotel rooms, especially for long-distance calls. Just last week I just stayed at a hotel that stopped providing alarm clocks in the rooms because all the guests used their smart phones for wake-up calls. In a few years everyone will be bringing their own Internet hotspots with them, and we’ll look back at hotel WiFi the same way we look back today at coin-operated vibrating beds.
But it’s still a nice-to-have in the short term. I like Hilton hotels very much. A few years ago I practically lived at one outside Washington DC. I had to use a modem and dial up the Internet, but I forget whether Hilton charged me for the call.