Value Subtracted 0

I’ve been in a hotel for the last few days, using the hotel wireless. If you have used hotel wireless, you have experienced the phenomenon that mid-rate hotels (Marriott Courtyards, Holidays, and the like) offer free wireless and expensive hotels (Marriotts and Hyatts, for example) tend to charge a daily rate, just because they can.

This one had a new twist. It offered tiers of service. I’m paraphrasing from memory, but here’s the list:

• Complimentary.
• Basic ($10.00 per day).
• Skype ($20.00 per day)
• Streaming ($30.00 per day).

The “complimentary” is slow; a file that I could download in less than a minute at home took over five minutes here.

This is not “added value”; it would cost the hotel no more to offer “streaming” access than to offer “complimentary” access. Instead, the hotel has subtracted value by restricting access so as to get persons to pay more for what would cost the hotel nothing more. It is a scam masquerading as a benefit, the protection racket Wall Street style.

This is the “screw you” business model; it’s how American business operates today.

(Other than this, it’s been an excellent stay.)

I do miss Philadelphia. It is one of the country’s great cities.