Just how important is free internet access to today’s travellers? Well, according to the results of a couple of new surveys that have been recently published, the answer is ‘very’. In fact, free Wi-Fi Internet access topped the list of both the surveys which questioned travellers on their most favourite and least favourite hotel amenities.

 

In its survey, online travel review site TripAdvisor found that 88% of travellers expect Wi-Fi Internet access to be free of charge in all lodging types. According to the survey, which queried more than 1,000 U.S. travellers and more than 600 U.S. hotel representatives, 65% of respondents said they have used free Wi-Fi Internet in an accommodation’s lobby or common areas to avoid paying for in-room access, while 41% of respondents said they had never paid for Wi-Fi Internet access.

 

What’s more, the TripAdvisor survey found that amenities hold a huge sway over potential guests with more than half (54%) admitting they had cancelled a reservation because they found better amenities in a different property.

 

The second survey, from hotel booking site hotels.com, also found that free Wi-Fi was one of the top criteria that came into play when travellers are weighing up the merits of different properties. According to the hotels.com survey, 38% of respondents reported that free Wi-Fi made a hotel for them a must, while 35% said it was an amenity they wanted to see more in hotels, and 31% commented that they would like it to be standard in all hotels in 2012.

 

“Given the explosion of mobile use in the past few years, it is no surprise that travellers are requiring free and fast Wi-Fi,” said Taylor L. Cole, APR, director of public relations and social media for hotels.com. “Many guests never travel without their tablets, smartphones and laptops. It’s as intuitive as packing a toothbrush. Guests use these items in their rooms to plan activities for the next day. We are also seeing an uptick in mobile booking the day of a stay. Guests are creating their trips while on-the-go with Tonight’s Local Deals on our site and the hotels.com mobile apps, which feature exclusive mobile deals – it is only natural that they’d want to stay connected while in their hotel rooms.”