The Changing Face of Modern Hotels
In the past hotels used to be a pretty basic affair; you'd have a check in time, your room for the night and breakfast in the morning before going out to do some sightseeing or lounging by the beach. For years this has been the norm and what you typically expect from a hotel when you're on holiday.
But times are changing and hotels have adapted themselves for the 21st century. Some feel they've changed for the better whilst others feel they may have made the prospect of getting a hotel more complicated and less inviting.
These days you are more likely to get free wireless internet than a free breakfast in the morning. A recent survey among hotels found that 91% of hotels now offer wireless internet access which is a massive increase since the last survey carried out in 2004 when the statistic stood at 56%.
The good thing for guests is that quite often this service is provided free of charge as only 15% of hotels actually charge to use their bandwidth whilst you're staying there. The curious thing is that in that 15% it is more often than not more expensive hotels that will charge you for internet access.
Most guests in these prestige hotel rooms aren't too fazed by this as thirty five percent of these rooms now have iPod docking stations as standard. The technological perks don't end there with three quarters of hotels having a computer in the lobby for guest use, although generally these will be modified to be coin-operated so that you buy a set amount of time to send gloating emails to the folks back home.
These are all well and good but the staple of most hotels is the complimentary breakfast in the morning, fifty nine percent of hotels surveyed offered breakfast which is actually down nine percent on 2006.
The number of hotels that charge for late cancellations also went up eight percentage points to 82% but with many travellers taking out travel insurance policies they may end up being covered for this and the increase wouldn't necessarily affect as many people as the statistic implies.
It's clear that hotels are changing to keep with the times and the modern visitor. Whilst some of these extras may not be standard yet there's every chance they could be as who would have thought ten years ago that when we book cheap hotels that we'd get internet as a part of the deal?
If you are interested in booking hotels at your dream destination then now is the perfect time. There are some cheap hotels available depending on where you look so when looking for hotels make sure you shop around.
Compare Hotels15333Plaza Motel8592
Miles24074
Hotel Suites98480
Aaa Motels84952