A reminiscening article about the fact that Hotels are FINALLY getting a clue regarding the importance of offering Wi-Fi access to customers. Wireless access is not an amenity any longer for most business travelers. With the need to access files back at the main office while at the same time, attend to the growling stomach, a cheesy dial-up access port will simply no longer do.

It took hotels quite some time to realize that guests might really like Wi-Fi. A few years ago, while preparing for a long business trip, I spent a dreadfully long afternoon calling nearly every hotel in one major American city to ask if they offered Wi-Fi in rooms. The answer was always the same: “Wi-What?” After explaining that I wanted wireless Internet access, the response was usually something about how the hotel had “dataports” in the room. Dataports, of course, are simply phone jacks moved from the wall to the hotel phone for easier access. Hardly high speed Internet access, and hardly wireless.