Friday, October 17, 2014

Hotels, internets, and bridal industries

I have been in a hotel for a residential workshop the last few days, and one of the things that I really wonder about is internet service.

If you think about it, every kind of service gets better as go up the price range of hotels. I have stayed in cheap hovels in Bolivia where you had to bring your own towel, and towards the pricey end of the spectrum you will find shampoo supplied, television, fridge, etc.

Just about the only thing that gets worse with the hotel price is internet access. Your chances of having free internet are actually higher in a rural Argentinian backpacker hostel than in an expensive hotel in Sydney; in the latter expect to pay $5 per hour, Visa or Mastercard accepted.

Why is that so? When I raised the issue, people opined that the kind of person who stays at expensive hotels will surely not worry about $25 in internet usage. However, the same logic could be applied to everything else: the kind of person who stays at expensive hotels will surely not worry about paying $20 extra for a towel, yet no distinguished hotel would seriously consider failing to supply towels.

And before anyone argues that towels are a necessity but internet isn't, well, who can do without internet these days, especially businessmen or suchlike? I am still puzzled about the logic here.

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The hotel has, by the way, won numerous awards from the Australian Bridal Industry Association (ABIA). This raises several other questions. What is a bridal industry? Why would anybody need a bridal industry? And if there is one, why is it a bridal as opposed to a wedding industry? Because that term carries with it the implication that the bride is expected to care about the wedding while the groom goes 'meh'. What century is this supposed to be again?

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