WIFI or no WIFI

[1BronHaul]

We run our holiday cottage in Snowdonia and we have had a few guests saying wifi would be a good bonus but then we also have guests saying in the guest book that wifi is not required as it’s a holiday and nice to get away from it all. I personally think wifi should be free to guests, however my partner disagrees and thinks it’s not essential as the local public house offers it, also additional costs of a phone line and monthly payments will add to our outgoings

What do you think?

www.1BronHaul.co.uk

[greenbarn]

No Wifi = less guests. No argument. For many it's a deal-breaker.

Make it a free service - if you charge you take on responsibility for availability - and point out that you can't guarantee service.

[Marks]

Agree with GB. I provide free Wi-Fi so if they want to use it they can, if they don't want it then they don't have to.

[Martha]

What Greenbarn said, a deal-breaker for me too. People who don't want it can always switch it off.

[French Cricket]

Deal breaker for me too.

And for my guests it seems: I wouldn't have a quarter the number of bookings without it.

[1BronHaul]

Thanks everyone i now have the evidence for my "We need wifi talk" this evening lol

Anyone know anything about liability ie: people going on things they shouldnt "Movies - Of all kinds" and also downloading pirate material ?

[FelicityA]

I don't actually know the ins and outs of liability, but to be on the safe side, I have a clause in our letting agreement ( which they sign) saying that they must not visit pornographic or otherwise 'unsuitable' sites or download pirated music and videos.

99% of our visitors, I estimate, use the wifi.

[dizza2560]

As you know we offer free unlimited wi-fi, just in the initial conversations with agencies when we first set up it was made clear that was pretty much a must have.
The searches on HL indicate a reasonable amount of people search for it.
Our deal is with sky and it costs £22 a month, so as an additional cost not too bad, and if it only brings in one extra booking it has paid for itself!

[greenbarn]

The liability thing is a mire of confusion resulting from one of Mandelson's last bits of legislation when he was running the country. Dunno if it's been cleared up - doubt it. It's primarily to do with copyright theft, so downloading bootleg stuff. Virtually impossible to police, and apparently intended to be aimed at ISPs rather than the likes of us but nobody read it properly.

Beyond having the best level of access security you can manage - which obviously isn't going to prevent guests downloading stuff, as you'll have to give them the password - there are a few things you can do such as using something like OpenDNS which blocks access to sites by category. It's a bit of a blunt instrument though, and can cause issues by blocking perfectly legitimate sites that guests are trying to access.

[wallypott]

5 years ago no wifi normal, 3 years ago no wifi - not a major deal, but a pain. Now a must.

[salmoncottage]

In the past we mistook the occasional guests comments that read "it was great to get away from the computer" and "we enjoyed logging on at the local pub" to be a good excuse not to supply wi-fi broadband. The truth is, these days parents and kids alike expect it to be available along with an idock, TV, kettle, hair dyer, etc etc. The usage during a guests stay can be monitored accurately using the on-line broadband / phone usage checker from BT.

[charles cawley]

When you put in the wifi it is a good idea to check and make certain you have all the contact details available such as e-mail and telephone numbers of the broadband provider. There is nothing more frustrating than trying to sort out a broadband failure when you don't have these handy.

Some people reduce costs by using repeaters from other broad band terminals but this depends on another near-by wireless broadband customer. I think there is quite a bit more about this on another thread.

WiFi is will soon be, and in larger lets it already is, as essential as providing a TV.

[Joanna]

We installed free wi-fi last summer because some guests mentioned it and we need it when we're staying there. We added about £10 to every 7 night listed price to cover the costs. Our bookings have gone up since although I don't know if there is any link - we've also had lots of positive TripAdvisor reviews as well so that probably made more difference. I think it makes most difference to our overseas guests who want to keep in touch with home and plan their onward journeys.
We added a sentence to our T&Cs so that guests agree to "Use the Internet responsibly and ensure that illegal material is not viewed using the cottage Wi-Fi connection." I think there is still a small risk that we could be liable for any misuse but we would always know which group of guests had access on any given date which I think would help if there ever was a problem.

[ianh100]

We decided to install WiFI as I think it is essential, it also allows me to monitor and control my heating. I would like to install a web cam but I can see guests would not like that (just kidding).

on HL I can see when people have selected WiFi in their search, I would say at least 50% have clicked WiFi so I would limit my booking oppertunities a lot if I did not.

My Sky service costs more like £25 a month as they just put up the line rental.

[delilah]

I have just signed up to plusnets unlimited package today, which has a special offer on (it depends what part of the country you are in) which is....£4.99 a month, having signed up for 12 months. I have had them at home for years and very happy with them and with the service (24/7 phoneline and you can actually get through to a real person). Have just changed our package at home to same, but it is £16.99 pcm for this area, but will get small discount off the home broadband for having the holiday cottage bb . Didn't mention it was a holiday let, just said it was a holiday cottage. If i hadn't used them for years, i would think it a bit too good to be true.